The early inevitable
by WoollyOne
Summary: Clove was strong. She needed to be. Her parents didn't care for her, her brother was the favourite, but her sister loved her. Clove was always going to die. Death is inevitable, but when it comes early to her, what does her sister Saskia do? This is Clove's life and Hunger Games from Saskia's POV. Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games. OOC, but still true to the story.
1. Chapter 1

I've come outside, out of the house. I couldn't stand watching anymore. Dad's drunk again, and he's beating Clove for coming home late again, and Mum's yelling at her. Felix, our brother, is just standing in the corner smirking, as usual. He knows he's the favourite, and he just laps it up. My parents love him, tolerate me, but hate Clove. Suddenly the noise stops from inside, and I hear a door slam and someone crunching through the gravel towards me. I walk towards her and wrap my arms around her waist and look up at her face.

"Are you alright? What did he do to you?" I ask.

"I'm fine Sas, I'm fine." She assures me.

"No you're not Clove, he hurt you!" I say firmly.

"Saskia" She starts.

"Clove, come inside. I'll make sure he doesn't do anything to you." I tell her. She's trying to be independent like a Career, but they still help each other.

"OK." She finally agrees. She knows I won't hurt her. It's not like I haven't had to clean her up before.

I lead her inside. Our parents are nowhere in sight, so I quickly take her to her room and sit her on her bed so I can look at her properly. She has a bruise on her left cheek accompanied by a tiny cut, so he hit her, hard, that's obvious, and her left wrist is red and slightly swollen, which means she tried to get away, but he wouldn't let her. Her left ankle also has a pale purple tinge to it, and she sat down carefully, so I reckon he tripped her and she fell to the ground. She had a bad run tonight, but I can fix it. I look in the cupboard in the corner and find what I need. I grab some bandages, tape, and towels, as well as a large bowl. First I fill the bowl with boiling water and add some Pimento, Laurel and Lavender, stir it around, and let it sit to cool down. After fifteen minutes it's cool enough, but still warm. I put the towels in the bowl to soak, and then pull them out. I make her lay down, and then wrap one around her wrist, one around her ankle, and carefully place one on her face.

"Now you're fine." I tell her teasingly.

"Thanks Sas." She says, smiling.

"Now you've just got to make sure no-one bashes me up at training tomorrow!" I laugh.

"Oh my gosh, I nearly forgot! Look in the drawer!" She says, her voice filled with excitement. I walk over to the drawer and pull out a heavy paper bag, and open it.

Inside is a sturdy, black leather belt, with a small sheath attached to it. I grab the handle that's sticking out of the sheath and pull out a shiny, silver throwing knife. The handle's perfectly contoured to fit my hand, and perfectly weighted. The blade itself is perfectly straight, and razor sharp, with a small ridge up the middle. It's about 20cm long in total. The perfect length for me. It's all perfect.

"Thankyou." Is all I can manage to say.

"It was nothing," she replied, "Now go and get some sleep, or you will get bashed at training tomorrow!"

So I kiss her forehead, and leave her room, to go up to the attic.

We used to share that room, but when she started training at the Academy, our parents told her that she had to sleep in the attic. When they left, I made her keep the room, and I took my things up to the attic and I have slept there ever since. So as I make my way up the ladder, I remember this. I was only five, and Clove had just started training for the Hunger Games. I knew she could win, and I wanted her to have a proper place to sleep. So as I crawled onto my mat, and pulled my blanket over me, I remembered her first day of training, and wondered what was going to happen during mine. Everyone in District Two starts training for the Games the day they turn ten. Tomorrow I turn ten, and start my training. I visited the training centre when I was five, to watch Clove at her first day of training. I saw her throwing knives, and when she stopped and saw me, the first thing I said was "Teach me." She agreed, and that night, she took me to buy me a small, second-hand knife and taught me. I'm worried about tomorrow, but Clove will be there. We love each other and look after each other, so I know I will be fine. With that thought in my head, I fall asleep, and wait until morning.

Before I know it, Clove is sitting beside my mat, gently stroking my face.

"Happy birthday Saskia. Lets get you down to training."

And with that she hands me her first training outfit for me to dress in, and leads me down to the kitchen, where we quickly have some bread and milk for breakfast, then walk out of the house to go to the Academy. Soon enough, we reach the giant doors that will be my life for the next thirteen years.

"Ready Sas?" .

"I'm ready Clove"

So she takes my hand, and we walk through the doors.

Together.


	2. Chapter 2

We walk through the doors, and find almost no-one there. Clove likes to get to training early, so she can have the best chance of volunteering for the Games in four weeks.

"Wow," I say, "It's huge! Look at all the knives!"

"I know. But before you can start training, you need to come with me so we can get you in their register."

"OK"

So we wander over to a desk in the corner.

"Ah, you must be Saskia. I'm Syron," says a man behind the desk. "Just give me your hand, and then you can start your training!"

I have no idea what he wants my hand for, but Clove grabs my wrist in two fingers and forces me to put it on the desk. Syron jabs my finger with a needle and squeezes it, making a large bead of blood appear, which he wipes on a card with my name printed on it.

"Congratulations Saskia! You can now start your training!" He says in a cheerful voice.

"Thankyou." I say

"Come on Sas, lets get you warmed up!" Clove says.

So we go over to the knives, and I watch as she grabs six knives, three in each hand, the blades between her fingers, and flicks her wrists. We hear six dull thumps as the knives hit all six dummies right in the heart. We grin at each other, and the doors open again, and dozens upon dozens of people walk in.

"Clove!" One yells, "That your little sister?"

"You bet it is Cato!" She yells back.

Cato walk over to us, and I'm struck by his massiveness. He's six feet tall, and all muscle. Now I recognize him.

"Hey Cato." I say, and I give a tiny yelp as he picks me up and throws me up in the air and catches me.

"Hey Sas." He says, and walks off to his friends.

"Come on Sas, grab some knives and show everyone what you can do." Clove says, "Everyone's watching you!"

"Fine." I say, and slowly walk over to the table, and look at all the knives sitting on it. I pick one that's about 20cm long, and walk back over to Clove. She gives me a nod, and I turn to one of the dummies. I walk over to it then turn and walk 20 paces from it, then turn to it again. I look to Clove again, get another nod, and raise the knife. I take a deep breath, look at the target, and feel everyone's eyes on me. I breathe out, and flick my wrist forcefully. I close my eyes as the blade flies through the air, and open them again when I hear the thump of it hitting its target right in the heart. I turn around and see Clove smiling at me, and everyone else watching me in awe.

"Well someone's a good teacher!" Cato yells in approval.

"You bet she is!" I laugh back at him.

We continue like this all day, throwing knives until lunchtime, and after we eat we go and do some hand-to-hand combat. When we have about half an hour left, we're gathered around a small, raised arena, with stretchy ropes fencing it off. A trainer steps up onto the arena and starts speaking to us.

"It's time for a fight! But first, we welcome our new student, Saskia."

At this, everyone turns to look at me. I remain straight faced, and Clove rubs my arm.

"Now! Time to pick the two students that will fight today!"

He reaches into a bowl and picks a piece of paper.

"Clove!" He yells. We look at each other grinning, knowing that this will be a good fight. Clove stands up and walks over to the trainer. He reaches into the bowl again and picks another piece of paper.

"Saskia!" He yells. Everyone has started murmuring, and I hear snippets of conversations, and words like 'dead' and 'no chance', and I know they're talking about me. I look up at Clove, and we grin at each other. I rise, and walk over to her.

The trainers are looking slightly worried, but then one comes over to us and asks me, "Do you still want to fight?"

"Yes." I reply firmly. Then Clove and I walk over to the knife station, and choose our weapons, then walk back to the trainer.

"Are you sure?" He asks me again.

"Yes." I reply, starting to get frustrated with them.

Clove and I look at each other and nod.

I know this isn't going to be easy.


	3. Chapter 3

We step into the little arena, me with a single knife gripped tightly in my hand, Clove with half a dozen fixed into her belt. Then the trainer speaks again, telling us the rules.

"This is a mercy match. The first person to call mercy is the loser. You may use any means possible to force your opponent to call mercy, as long as you don't kill them."

At these final words, Clove smiles one of her sadistic smiles, and I start to worry. I have more nerve endings than most people, which means I feel pain more acutely, and Clove knows this. That's the thing with Clove, she loves me, but she can still be lethal towards me. I can tell I'm going to be in a world of pain after this, but I won't give anyone the satisfaction of watching me go down without a fight.

Clove and I walk to the centre of the arena, and stand facing each other. She draws herself up to her full height, and even though she's small, she towers over me. She's a foot taller than me, and weighs nearly twice as much as I do. I feel tiny compared to her, but I'm still going to fight.

"Scared Saskia?" She asks, looking down on me like I'm a meal. It's all I can do to just stare her down. We fight a little at home, but not full on like this. This is going to be a real test for me.

"You know I'm never going to back down." I mutter in return.

Upon the instruction of the trainer, we bow to each other, then walk ten paces from the centre and turn to each other. As soon as the trainer blows the whistle, it's all action.

Clove runs at me, knife in hand. She's fast. Real fast. But she taught me well. I dodge out of the way and spin round, slashing at her with my knife. I just manage to get her back with the tip of the blade, then run to the other side. She turns towards me, with a glare on her face. She still has the knife in her hand, and she flicks her wrist, and I only just get out of the way in time. It still hits me though, giving me a long cut on my right shoulder. I gasp in pain, and Clove grins a sly grin and runs at me again, throwing another knife. This time I'm not so lucky. The knife gets me in my left forearm, and I give a small yelp. Before I can react, she's dived at me and tackled me to the ground. But she doesn't have the upper hand yet. She rolled over me, and is lying next to me. I flip myself up and cartwheel over her, placing one hand on her stomach and pushing down hard, winding her. She starts coughing, trying to get some air into her lungs, but there's no way she's giving up yet. She pushes herself up off the ground and stares daggers at me. She throws another knife that catches me above my eyebrow, sending blood trickling down my face. Then she slams into me, knocking me onto my back. She straddles my body, her knees pinning my shoulders to the ground, and her toes digging into my wrists. I'm completely unable to move, and she's taken my knife. I try and struggle against her, but she pulls my hair, forcing my head back to the ground. Then she pulls a large, curved blade from her belt and holds it forcefully to my throat. _'What's she going to do to me? It's Clove. She could do anything! I won't give in. She can do whatever she wants, but she's going to be trying for a while.' _I think to myself.

I look into her dark, brown eyes. They're filled with a steely determination, and a thirst for blood. By the way she grins sadistically, I know she sees fear in mine. We look at each other for a few moments. Then, never taking her eyes off me, she slowly reaches to her belt, and pulls out a small, razor sharp knife.

"Hm." She says sweetly, "What are going to do now Saskia?"

'_Yeah, what am I going to do now' _I think weakly. And for the first time in my life, I genuinely fear for my life. My life is in her hands, and she knows it. She knows I'm terrified, and she likes that feeling of having complete control over someone, being able to kill them in an instant if she gets bored. Even though we've been instructed not to kill each other, she still might if I piss her off too much, so I just stay quiet rather than risk saying the wrong thing. She delicately uses her fingers to tilt my head from side to side, as if she's surveying my face. I'm shaking in fear, but otherwise completely paralysed.

"Give in Saskia," She says, "This is your last chance."

'_Fair warning,' _I think to myself, _'But no. I'm not giving up. Nobody's getting that satisfaction.'_

"Never." Is all I can choke out.

"Your choice." She says with an evil glint in her eye. She lowers her knife, and I try to brace myself for whatever torture lives in her sadistic mind.

She teasingly traces the outline of my lips with the small knife she has in her hand. Her hand deliberately presses down harder, opening up a cut on my lip. While she's doing this, she's pressing the large knife even harder to my throat, and I give a tiny yelp of pain. That just makes her laugh. And then she stops and smiles that sadistic smile she wears so well. I'm terrified. Any sane person who knows Clove would have given up at the start. I'm the only person she would do this to here. She rests the tiny blade on my cheek ever so lightly, trying to scare me. It worked.

"Last chance." She says teasingly.

"Like hell." I say to her.

And then she begins.

She digs the blade into my face and starts carving an intricate pattern into it. My screams fill the room, and she continues for about five minutes, and I'm still screaming in pain. There's blood running down my face and into my mouth, filling it with the metallic taste. My lips just won't form the word, and she won't stop. There's a sheen of sweat on my face, and it runs down into my flesh, causing me searing pain. I want it to end, but I just can't say it. I'm thinking it, but my body just won't do what I want it to.

'_Why didn't I say it before. I know her. She won't be satisfied until she wins. She could keep going for hours. She could kill me if she really wanted to. She knows twenty different ways to kill me with a knife. Most of them are painful.'_

"Had enough?" She asks, smiling. I know she'll never get bored with this.

"In your dreams." I manage to say.

Then she's just stabbing me, anywhere and everywhere, and I'm still screaming, on and on. She's still on top of me, and I'm fighting against her, but she just pulls my head back to the floor by my hair, She's taunting me now, but I can't hear what she's saying. And then she's stabbing me again, and I just keep screaming. The pain is too much, and I need it to end. I can't see properly, and there's white spots floating in front of my eyes. She's slashing at my body, and I have deep cuts all over me. She's still on top of me with the knife still held to my throat, and she's pressing down with it harder. I can't breathe properly, and I can only feel pain. _'This is too much. I'm going to die.' _I think to myself. _'She's pushed me past my limits. This needs to stop. This is the end of my fight. I'm through.'_

"_MERCY! PLEASE!" I scream. "PLEASE! STOP! I'M BEGGING YOU!" I'm sobbing now, just begging her to stop. Clove's still on top of me, assessing the damage she's done. Then she gets up and walks away from me. I'm still shaking, and starting to hyperventilate. But I'm paralysed, and still on my back with blood pouring from my body. I feel cold, and know this isn't good._

_Clove looks back at me and gasps in shock. Clearly she didn't know it was this bad. She rips off her belt, and throws her knives to the ground. She rushes over to me and kneels beside me. I'm still lying there, just whimpering in pain. She's holding my hand, squeezing it tightly, letting me know that she's still there._

"_It's OK Sas, you're OK. You're going to be fine. I promise." She says, holding back tears. I look at her face, and she can't believe what she's done to me._

"_Clove." I say weakly. She looks at me._

"_Yeah Sas?" She asks quietly._

"_I love you." I answer. She's my sister. No matter what she does to me, I'll still love her unconditionally._

"_I love you too Sas, and don't you ever forget that." She says, and kisses my forehead._

_With that she calls Cato over, and he gently picks me up, cradling me in his massive arms, and takes me over to the Academy's hospital wing. As he's carrying me over, Clove is still holding my hand._

"_Ha, I almost forgot Clove. You won." I say weakly, trying to sound remotely cheerful. She just laughs._

"_Really, you're bleeding everywhere, and the only thing you can do is tell me I won?"_

"_Well you did win Clove!" Cato interjects, "But you put up a hell of a fight Sas, and that takes guts, especially against your big sis here!" Clove just glares at him, and punches him in the arm when he puts me down. Cato just grins at her._

"_You know you don't have a knife in your hand don't you?" Cato asks quizzically. Clove just punches him again._

"_It doesn't hurt!" Cato laughs. Clove just glares at him._

"_You just wait until I get one Cato." She says evenly._

"_Yeah, I know what she can do with them," I say smiling, "It hurts a little bit!"_

_And all of us just start cracking up laughing, but then I stop._

"_Ow!" I yell._

"_What's wrong?" Clove asks me, her voice filled with worry, "Where does it hurt?"_

"_Where doesn't it hurt?" I say flatly._

"_OK, why did you yell then?"_

"_My ribs hurt."_

"_Oh shit, I was sitting on them!" She cries out._

"_You don't say."_

"_Yeah, I do say!" She yells, "Hopefully it's nothing too bad."_

_So she runs to get a doctor to check my ribs._

"_You OK tiny?" Cato asks me._

"_Yeah, I'm perfectly fine." I say sarcastically._

"_It was a pretty good fight, but when she got on top of you, well, you had no chance. Why didn't you call it earlier? You could have died! She could have killed you!" He asks me._

"_Because everyone was looking at me like I didn't deserve to be here. I just wanted to show them that I'm not weak, and to just prove myself to them and to her." I say quietly._

"_Oh." Cato says. It's at that point that Clove returns with a doctor. He takes look at me and probes my ribs and tells me they're just bruised, and that I can go._

"_Come on Saskia. Lets get some new uniforms and go home." Clove says. So we go to the desk near the doors and get given a bag with a new uniform in it. Mine had holes in it, and was soaked in blood, and Clove's had a long slash down the back. My knife had hardly touched her! She just had a tiny scrape, no blood or anything! We leave after that, and go home. When we reach our front gate, we stop dead in our tracks and look at each other scared._

_Mum and Dad are at the door waiting for us._


	4. Chapter 4

One look at their faces tells us everything. We know we're late, but they wouldn't wait outside for that. We start walking towards the gate, but I place one hand on Clove's chest, holding her back.

"Let me go first," I tell her, "I'll find out what they're doing out here."

"OK, but be careful," she says, "I don't want you getting hurt any more than you already are."

I nod in agreement, and slowly open the gate and walk towards the light spilling out of the open door. When I reach the light, my parents look at me, and their looks of anger are replaced with looks of pure horror. I look down at myself, and I realise. I'm still wearing my training uniform from the fight with Clove. It's riddled with slashes and holes and soaked with blood, and my face has a bloodied bandage over it.

"What the HELL happened to you?" My mother yells.

"Um…" I say nervously and glance up at Clove, "Um…"

"I'm going to fucking KILL that girl!" My father yells, "Get over here NOW!"

Both of my parents give her icy glares, and I avoid her gaze. By looking at her, I'd given her away. The very thing I was trying to avoid. I hear her shuffling up the path.

"HURRY UP!" My mother yells.

She moves a little faster, but I know she doesn't want to face them.

"What did you do to her?" My father yells, "Why is she like this? It's her first day of training! What happened?"

"I-I didn't do anything!" She says quietly, her voice shaking, "It was someone else!"

"Like hell you little, good for nothing BITCH!" My mother yells at her, "What did you do!"

Clove starts backing away, trying to get out of the yard, but before she can move, Dad grabs her and forces her to face Mum.

"I'll ask again," she says dangerously, "What did you do?"

She still doesn't answer, so Mum raises a hand to hit her, but I don't want to watch this anymore, so I decide to step in. She's about to lower her hand to strike her, but I stand in front of Clove and grab Mum's arm in a grip like a vice, and stare her straight in the eye. She looks shocked, but quickly regains her glare, this time directed at me.

"What do you think you're doing you stupid girl?" She hisses at me, wrenching her arm out of my tightly closed fingers.

"You were going to hit her." I say firmly, lowering my hand down to my side, which I shouldn't have done.

It happens so fast I can't even react, and don't see it coming. She slaps me so hard my face goes numb and I gasp in pain, but thankfully she didn't hit the one Clove cut open earlier. When I regain feeling in my face, it's stinging, and tears are squeezing themselves out of my eyes. She sees this and slaps me again.

"Careers don't cry!"

Clove tries to pull me back behind her, but I stand my ground in front of our mother, determined to stop her abuse.

"Get out of here." Mum says with an air of finality.

"NOW!" She yells when I don't move. But I don't want to move. I want to make sure Clove doesn't get hurt.

"Go Sas, I can handle it." Clove says quietly, gently placing an arm around my chest and pulling me behind her.

"Clove…" I begin, but she cuts me off.

"Go inside Saskia. Now." She means what she says, and I know she won't change her mind. I feel completely and utterly powerless. I can't do anything! I reluctantly give in and go inside, just worrying about what's going to happen to her at the hands of our parents.

As I go inside I hear a scuffle outside, and the sickening sound of hand on flesh. I'm shaking now. I just don't want her to get hurt. My face is still stinging from where Mum slapped me, so I go and fill a bowl with cold water and soak a towel in it to put on my stinging, red face. I carefully place it on my face, and the cooling sensation is immediate. I take the bowl with me to the couch and keep the towel on my face. After around an hour I hear the door open, but Clove doesn't come in, my parents do. They go straight to their room, and they look pleased with themselves. I decide to go outside to find Clove and bring her inside to clean her up. I open the door and look to the gate first, but she's not there. I wonder where she is, and as I do, I see a tint drop of blood on the ground. About a metre away I see another, and a swipe of blood on the wall just near it. I look on the ground below the blood and what I see makes my heart stop.

It's Clove, unconscious in the blood-stained grass.


	5. Chapter 5

"Clove! Clove!" No reply.

"No, no, no, no, no! Clove!" Still no reply. I'm panicking, desperately trying to wake her up. I need to get her inside and to her room so I can see what they did to her. She's heavy, her body's just muscle! But I need to get her inside, so I squat down and get my arms underneath her. I slowly stand up with her body in my arms and make my way inside. She's heavy, but I'm determined to get her into her bed, into safety. I make a mental note to ask her to train me like she trains when we go back to the Academy. I need to be stronger. I'm weak. Clove is just all muscle, but I'm not. I want to be like her. People say we look like each other, and we do. Same dark brown hair, same deep brown eyes. Nearly the same eyes. They look the same, but everyone says hers are cold and hard, filled with a thirst for blood, but mine are filled with the look of someone desperate who's seen to much. Hers are unemotional, but mine let you see into my soul. At least, that's what everyone says.

I reach her room and kick the door open. I carefully lay her down on her bed, and turn on the light to see what's happened to her. She's still unconscious, but I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Surely they wouldn't, but I still wouldn't put it past them. I gently but firmly place two of my fingers on her neck, and am rewarded with a steady pulse. I breathe a sigh of relief, and take a look at the rest of her. The blood came from another small cut where she's been hit again. I take a look at the purplish lump on the side of her head. The cut's stopped bleeding, so I just grab a towel and dip it under the tap in the bathroom and hurry back to gently wipe the dried blood off her face. I hear a groan as I get back into the room. I rush over to the bed and kneel beside her.

"Clove, are you awake?" I ask her softly.

"My head hurts." She says weakly.

"I'm going to fix it. I promise." I say, and proceed to gently dab the towel on her head.

"Ohhh, it hurts!" She says.

"I'm sorry Clove, I'm sorry," I say apologetically, "I'm fixing it. It's going to hurt a little, but it's going to fix it."

"OK." She says weakly. I continue cleaning her head, and then rinse off the towel and lay it on the lump on her head.

"Don't go to sleep Clove," I say, "Don't go to sleep. I'm going to stay right here OK, but just don't go to sleep."

"OK." She replies sleepily.

I sit on a chair by her bed, but she still doesn't sleep. After a couple of hours, I decide she's no longer in danger of concussion, so I decide to let her sleep.

"Clove?"

"Yeah Sas?"

"I reckon you can go to sleep now.""OK."

I decide to leave the room at that point, seeing as I've kept her awake long enough already.

"Hey Sas?"

"Yeah Clove?"

"We don't have to go to training tomorrow. You only have to train on weekends if you really want to."

"I think you'd be right to train tomorrow.""OK. Do you want to come with me?"

"Yeah."

"OK. See you in the morning."

"Night Clove."

"Night Sas."

Then I leave the room to go up to the attic and get some sleep myself. My face is still a little tingly, but I can deal with that. I reach the trapdoor and grab the rope and pull hard. The ladder drops down and I climb up into the blackness. When I first started sleeping up there, there were dozens and dozens of boxes that had just been thrown up here that were never used. I just slept on the floor that first night, without a blanket. The next day it was the weekend, so I spent the day up there moving everything around, making it my little home. The boxes were just filled with anything, but I did find some useful things in them. I found a mat that would suffice as a mattress and a blanket that looked warm enough for the winter nights that were always so cold. I even found a pillow in one box, along with an old teddy bear.. Then I decided to make it even more like my own place. I got all the boxes together and then started thinking about what I could do with them. I eventually decided to lay some down around my mat, so I couldn't roll off it and onto the hard floor. Then I stacked some on top of the ones around where my head would go. Behind some boxes I found an old armchair that was still comfy, and moved that into the corner. I placed another box beside the armchair to use as a sort of table. I dug around in some of the other boxes and found a small projector that showed the Capitol broadcasts. They were mostly just replays of old Hunger Games, but I knew I would need it when Clove volunteered. Even back then I knew she would volunteer. I set up the projector and gave it a quick test. It worked well, and I told Clove, just in case she ever wanted to watch some old games. It wasn't much, but it was my home, and I liked it.

I reached the top of the ladder and pulled up the trapdoor. I wandered over to my 'bed' and laid myself down. I pulled the blanket over me and snuggled up to my old teddy. I looked out the window at the full moon, and then looked away. I snuggled even closer to my teddy, and just wished that this day would be over. I closed my eyes and relaxed my muscled, and drifted into a deep sleep.

Just waiting for the morning to come.


	6. Chapter 6

I wake up to the morning sun streaming through the small window right onto my face. I get out of bed straight away, knowing I won't be able to get to sleep again. I go downstairs to check on Clove, but her bed is empty and made, with a note left on her pillow.

'_I felt fine when I woke up, so I've gone to the Academy. You can come down later if you want. I'll be back before dinner. Clove.'_

I decide not to go, because my muscles are all tight and sore. I go downstairs and find a note from Mum and Dad on the kitchen bench.

'_We've gone out for the weekend to visit friends on the other side of the district. Felix has come with us. Will be back on Sunday afternoon.'_

_So it's just Clove and I at home. At least we won't have to worry about her getting worse. She'll have the weekend to heal. I find a small wooden bowl on the table with some steaming hot grain with fruit in it. It must be Clove's doing. Who else would do it? We're the only one's at home, and there are remnants of another bowl of the stuff in the sink. I sit down to eat it, and think about my plans for the day. I finish eating and wash the bowls and spoons. That doesn't keep me busy for long, so I go up to the attic again to tidy it. _

_I make sure all the boxes around my mat are aligned neatly, smack the dust off my mat, pillow, blanket and chair cushion, and put the 'table' back into its position right next to the chair. I make sure the projector still works, because Clove and I always watch the games up here together and they're on in less than a month. I look at my clothes just laying on the floor. I really need some shelves to put them on. I go outside and find some wide planks of wood and haul them up the ladder to my room. I place one on top of a box on the flor and put another box on top of it. The plank seems steady, so I put another plank on top of another box on the floor and put another box on top of that. I lay my training clothes on one shelf and my regular clothes on the other. I put my underclothes on top of one box, and my sleep clothes on the other. I put my shoes on the ground under the shelves, and I'm satisfied with what I've done. The attic's tidy, but I still have hours to kill before Clove gets back, so I go outside to do something there._

_The yard looks tidy, and nothing needs cleaning, so I'm back to my original problem. What can I do now? I make myself a small wooden chest out of thin logs to put in the attic for the games. The Academy closes during the games and Clove and I always stay in my room throughout almost the entire games. We only leave to use the bathroom, and we take our own food up there, but we never have anywhere to put it. The chest takes me about an hour, and by the time I finish it and get it to the attic, it's time for lunch. I find some bread from our grain ration and just eat it like it is and have some water to wash it down. It's about one-o-clock, so I decide to do some knife training of my own. I don't want to go down to the Academy, so I make a target and set it up. I get my new knife that Clove gave me and strap on the belt. I pull the knife out of its sheath and admire it in the sun._

"_New knife Sas?"_

_It's Cato. He's on his way down to the Academy, but right now he's leaning against our fence. I walk over to him._

"_Yeah, my birthday present from Clove." I reply._

"_Is she here?"_

"_No, she's already down there."_

"_By the way," he says, handing me a heavy bag, "Happy birthday for yesterday."_

_I open the bag and look inside. There is a pair of small weights in it._

"_So you can train at home a bit." He says._

"_Thanks Cato!"_

_He picks me up and lifts me over the fence and grabs me in a bear hug._

"_God you're tiny Sas!" He laughs, "I've got to go now, but I'll stop by when Clove gets back, OK?"_

"_OK, see you later."_

"_Bye."_

_And with that he lifts me back over the fence into the yard and walks down to the training centre._

_I take a better look at the weights and see that they're made of hard stone. Granite, I think. They've been sealed so that they won't crumble, and they each weigh about 5 pounds. I take them up to my room and put them in the corner of my room and go back outside to train. I walk 10 paces from the target and get ready to throw the knife._

_It fits in my hand perfectly, weighted so it sits perfectly, without falling out of my grip. I aim carefully and flick my wrist, and the knife hit's the target dead centre. It throws really well. The weight gives it a good momentum as it spins. I jog in and retrieve it, and do the same thing again. I take a small step back every time I throw, and I do this for around three hours. I'm bored now, so I go inside and look in our store cupboard where we keep our food. We have plenty, so I don't need to go and buy anything. Eventually I decide to just go and walk around town. I've been walking for a couple of hours when someone grabs me roughly and shoves me into one of the back streets. I spin around to get a look at my attacker. But what I see is not what I expect._

_There are six armed men blocking my exit._


	7. Chapter 7

They're standing shoulder to shoulder at the entrance of the alley, and it comes to a dead end. They're holding clubs in their hands and have swords and other weapons on their belts. One of them steps out towards me, and the others immediately spread out slightly, but still close enough together that I can't escape.

"Well what do we have here? A little kid walking the streets on her own? Well that just won't do now will it?" The man says. "I think we might have to do something about that boys." All the men behind him smile sadistically. My heart is pounding, and my whole body is shaking.

The men slowly advance on me and I back away, but then I feel concrete on my back and realise that I've come to the end. The man who spoke, who appears to be the leader, walks towards me with a club in his hand. He stands in front me and just looks at me. I reach down to my hip and pull my knife out of its sheath. I take a deep breath and slash in his direction then quickly replace my knife. He jumps back but quickly regains his ground and pins me against the wall. With his free hand he punches me in the stomach so hard I can't breathe properly. He roughly throws me to the ground. The other men join him and stand in a ring around me holding their weapons.

"No-one tries anything with me." The leader says in a menacing voice. I'm scared they're going to kill me. But then I realise where I am. This alley leads off from the road the Academy's on. Suddenly the men stop making noise and look out onto the street. Two people are walking past, not looking down here. But I recognise those two people. It's Cato and Clove, coming back from training.

"Clove!" I scream, "Clove, help me!"

She turns and looks down into the alley with a look of horror on her face. The leader punches me again, and turns his attention to Cato and Clove, who are at the entrance.

Clove has a belt with a dozen knives fixed to it, and Cato has two swords hanging from his belt. I stand up and draw my knife, and Clove draws two of hers. Cato draws both of his swords, and the two of them are in a fighting stance. I lower myself into my fighting stance and we nod at each other. We rush towards the men who have only just realised what we're doing. We aren't going to be beaten by them. We're going to fight.

Clove runs in a few metres then throws her knives. We don't want to kill them, we just want to stop them from murdering me. Each knife catches her targets in the thigh. They stop to pull them out and over balance slightly. Cato runs in and knocks them to the ground, and spins round swinging at the two men that are there. His swords cut their left arms, and Clove leaps into the air kicking them in the abdomen and sending them sprawling onto the ground. There are two left, and Cato and Clove tackle one together. Cato distracts him by cutting his arm with his sword, while Clove throws her knife at his leg. He collapses on the ground, and I watch as blood seeps out of all their wounds. But then something grabs my shoulders and forces me to the ground. We've all forgotten about the leader. He's on top of me, his hand holding my wrists to the ground, level with my head, and my knife has dropped out of my hand. His knees are on the ground, but I still can't move. Cato and Clove can't get to me, so I have to finish him.

I bend my right knee so it's raised off the ground, and he overbalances a tiny bit, but that's enough for me. I extend my left arm quickly so it's above my head which puts even more off-balance. I roll over, pushing with all my strength to get him off me. I dart to my knife and grab it off the ground. The man's still lying on the concrete, and I jump on him, holding my knife to his throat.

"Don't you dare move, or I will slit your throat!" I say in my most dangerous voice. He doesn't resist, and I find that odd.

"If you touch me ever again I will personally put this knife through your chest. Do you understand me?"

He nods, but when I get off him he leaps up, drawing his sword. I do the only thing I know how to do. Throw my knife. It hits him in the thigh, and he falls to the ground. I reach down and grab my knife from his leg.

"Next time you won't be so lucky." I say, and walk away from him.

Clove runs over to me and hugs me tightly.

"Saskia," she says, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Clove. I'm fine."

"Come on Sas, lets get you home." She says, and we start walking home.

"What happened Tiny?" Cato asks, "You were in your yard throwing knives last time I saw you, and next I know you're being cornered by a group of armed thugs."

"I just decided to go for a walk, and then they just grabbed me!" I say.

We reach our house, and Cato leaves us at the gate, and Clove leads me inside. I'm fine except for where I was punched, but that's just red and sore. We decide to have some bread and broth for dinner, and once it's ready, we each get what we want and sit down on one of the couches in front of the television. We turn it on and watch videos of past Hunger Games that she bought at the Academy. We decide to watch the 65th games, when Finnick Odair won. We watch as he runs off his plate and grabs knives and spears and quickly masters them. Soon he left the Careers, and he received his incredible trident from his sponsors. He wove nets and trapped his opponents, then used his trident like it was part of his body. No-one could fight him, and he won quickly. By the time he's crowned, we've finished eating, so we just watch whatever the Capitol decides to broadcast. I take our bowls to the kitchen and clean them.

I walk back into the living room and sit back down next to Clove. Suddenly tears start streaming from my eyes. Clove pulls me closer to her and holds me.

"What's the matter Sas?" She asks me gently.

"I-I just thought they were going to kill me!" I say between sobs.

"It's OK Sas," She says, stroking my hair, "It's OK. Don't cry. Just don't cry."

I start crying, sobs racking my body, but Clove just holds me tighter in her arms. I flinch away from her as she tells me not to cry. I'm scared she'll hit me like our mother did.

"I'm not going to hurt you Sas, I'm not like her." She keeps on stroking my hair, and kisses my forehead.

I relax and she holds me tight.

"Let's sleep down here tonight Sas." She says.

"OK."

We go up to our rooms to change into our sleep clothes, and then meet downstairs. She hugs me tightly and then walk over to the couch. She grabs a blanket and pillow and comes back over to me. She lays down on the couch with her head on the pillow and motions for me to come over. She pulls me down next to her and lays my head on her chest, then pulls the blanket over both of us.

"Night Sas."

"Night Clove."

And we fall asleep to the sound of each other's heartbeats.


	8. Chapter 8

When I wake up, Clove and I are still laying as we were last night. She's already awake, but hasn't moved. She's laying, stroking my head.

"Hey Sas," She says, smiling, "You feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I feel alright."

"Good. You want some breakfast?"

"Yes please." I say like a little kid.

"OK, lets get up and make some then!"

"OK."

So we get up and stretch, then go to the kitchen to make something to eat. We decide to cook some eggs and have them with some bread and milk. Once we've eaten them, we clean out plates and think about what we want to do today.

"Well we can't go to the Academy, because it's always closed on Sundays," Clove tells me, "And Cato was going to come over later. Are you fine with that?"

"Yeah, that's alright."

So we go upstairs to get changed, and a couple of hours of Hunger Games watching later, we hear a knock at the door. Clove walks over to open it, and Cato is standing outside. He has a grin plastered to his face, and I shudder. I think of what happened yesterday, and think of what he did. He looked so… so… murderous. Nothing like his normal self around me.

"Hey girls! What are you two up to?"

"Just watching some videos." I say.

"Cool. Hey Clove, can you come outside for a minute? I need to talk to you."

"Sure!" She says and walks out the door with him.

I'm curious as to what they're doing, so I decide to go outside and see. I'm about to walk around the corner, when I hear them. I slowly poke my head around the corner, and I see Clove in Cato's arms, and they're… kissing? I quietly go back inside before one of them spots me. I sit back down on the couch, and just in time too. Almost as soon as I'm comfortable, they walk back inside together. I pretend I was in here the whole time. They hug each other briefly, and then Cato leaves.

"So what did Cato want?" I ask her innocently.

"He just wanted to know how you were after yesterday." She says somewhat defensively.

"OK."

"Let's make lunch." She says, clearly trying to steer the topic away from Cato.

"OK."

So we eat the last of the loaf of bread that we started yesterday, and have it with the last of the milk, and have an apple each as well. Once all of that is eaten and our plates are clean, she takes me outside to do some knife training. She brings all of her knives out, and sets up six targets, all in a line.

"I'm going to show you how to throw six knives at once, OK?" She says.

I nod, and she turns, holding three knives in each hand, with the blades grasped between her fingers. She flicks her wrists, and the knives go spinning towards the targets. They all hit right in the centre, and she goes and retrieves them, and looks at me.

"Your turn now," She says, "Spread out your fingers."

I do as she says, and she places a blade between each of them. As soon as she puts one in, I close my fingers, holding the knife firmly. She does this with all six knives, then speaks again.

"Position your hands so that the handles point to the ground."

I do as she says, and she nods.

"Now take aim and just flick your wrists, making sure you open your fingers when the blades are pointing to the targets. Have a go."

I turn to the targets and focus. I breathe in and bring my wrists into the position Clove told me, then breathe out again. I aim carefully, and flick my wrists forcefully, being careful to open my fingers when my palms face towards me so they don't cut my hands. They fly through the air, and I watch as they all hit their targets right in the heart.

Clove and I look at each other and grin. She's a good teacher, which reminds me.

"Clove?" I ask her.

"Yeah Sas?"

"Tomorrow, when we go to training, can you train me?"

"Of course! But why?"

"Because I'm weak, and I just need proper training." I say quietly.

"You're not weak Saskia, but I will train you."

"Thanks." I say.

We go back to throwing knives, and then we hear our parents get home. They don't say anything to us, they just go inside. Felix comes through the gate last, and he comes over to us.

"What do you want Felix?" Clove says impatiently.

"Oh nothing. I just wanted to do this." He says, and moves towards Clove with his fist raised, and Clove and I both know that he's going to hit her. Before I know what I'm doing, I've grabbed his wrist and twisted it, making his torso twist round, and I push down, forcing him onto his knees.

"If you even touch her, you'll get a lot worse than this." I say menacingly.

He slowly stands up and raises his fist to hit me, and he brings it down with such force that I see stars. Before he can react, I kick him in the groin and punch him in the face, and he falls to the ground.

"That goes for me too Felix." I say.

He stands up again and walks inside, and we hear his whiny voice yelling.

"Mum! Dad! They bashed me up!"

Clove and I look at each other, worried. They love Felix.

This time we're in the same boat.


	9. Chapter 9

Our parents storm outside, and Felix follows. I grin when I see a brilliant purple bruise blossoming on his face, but one look at my parents' faces and I immediately stop. We're both in deep, deep trouble.

"Which one of you did this?" Dad spits, pulling Felix up next to him, "Which one of you hit him?"

"Me." Clove replies firmly.

'_Why is she doing this? She saw me do it, so why is she getting herself in trouble for it?' _I think to myself, then it dawns on me.

'_She loves me. She's trying to protect me!"_

"_You didn't Clove, so don't say you did." I say to her firmly._

"_What?" My mother hisses, "You did this to him?"_

"_Yes. I did." I say to her._

"_Saskia…" Clove starts. But I don't let her finish her sentence._

"_Don't Clove," I say to her, "You didn't do this, so don't say you did." I push her behind me, determined to face our parents myself._

"_Get here now." My father says with barely concealed rage._

_Clove stands stock still, knowing she can't change my mind. I walk over to our father, and he grabs my shoulders in a biting iron grip. I turn to look at Clove, and she looks like she might be about to faint. _

_He grabs me and marches me away, our mother following, and I know they aren't going to let me off easy. They drag me into the old garden shed and bolt the door behind us. The shove me away and I turn to face them. They start walking towards me slowly with malicious glints in their eyes. Before I know what's happened, my father has punched me in the face so hard that I see stars. I crouch down, clutching my face, just trying to get rid of the pain. When I raise my head again, my mother's hand is there, and she slaps me so hard that I can't see properly. _

_I stand up again, pausing only to spit blood from my mouth. They keep beating me, and I just stay silent. At some point someone kicks me in the stomach and I collapse to the ground, unable to breathe. I lay on the cold, hard floor, trying to get my breath. But the abuse doesn't stop. They keep kicking me even while I lay limp on the ground. I don't know when, but they come to an agreement. They've been doing this for nearly half an hour, but they must have decided it was boring now. My father reaches to the wall and picks something off it. He raises the shovel above his head, and brings it down hard on mine. Then my world turns to black._

_When I wake up, I find myself on a bed, and there is a throbbing pain in my head. I give a small moan, and someone comes and crouches by my head. I can't see who it is though. My vision's still a little bit hazy._

"_Sas? Are you alright?"_

"_Clove? Is that you?" I ask weakly._

"_Yes," She says to me gently, "It's me."_

"_Good."_

"_I've fixed you up, but sleep down here tonight."_

_Then I realise where I am. She's brought me inside, and I'm on her bed in her room. I don't want to sleep down here. I want to sleep in my own bed, and let her sleep down here. This is her room, and I made her have it for a reason._

"_No."_

"_Saskia, don't be difficult." She says in exasperation._

_I know I'm being stubborn, but it's for a reason. She just doesn't know it._

"_Clove, I'm not sleeping in your room." I say firmly. She's not going to win this argument. But she's still going to keep trying._

"_Just sleep down here!" She says loudly, "Why don't you want to?"_

_I stay silent. I've decided to let her have her way._

"_Fine. I'll sleep down here then."_

"_Thankyou," She says quietly, "Do you want to sleep now?"_

"_Yes, please." I say quietly._

"_OK. I'm right here. They aren't going to hurt you again." She says to me._

_I relax and snuggle deeper into the mattress. It's so much comfier than mine, but I don't mind. She gently pulls the thick, soft blanket over me, and tucks me in. I feel like a little kid, but I feel so safe in her hands. She gently pulls a stray hair out of my eyes, and strokes my face. She leans down and kisses my forehead. _

"_I'm staying right here Sas, OK?" She says softly._

"_OK. Night Clove." I say sleepily._

"_Night Sas." She replies._

_I close my eyes and let the darkness embrace me._


	10. Chapter 10

I open my eyes to blinding light, from the sun streaming through the window. Clove's awake and still sitting in the chair beside the bed, just like she was last night. I slowly sit up and stretch, and Clove looks over at me and smiles. I feel better rested than I have in 5 years. My head feels a bit funny, and there are bruises all over my body, but I'm still going to training. As if Clove read my thoughts, she starts speaking.

"You still have to go to training even though you're hurt." She says.

"I was intending on going anyway." I reply with a smile.

"Of course you were."

"Yes, I was."We sit in silence for a moment, then without a word we go downstairs for breakfast. We get a slice of bread each and cook them over the fire in the kitchen. When they're golden and crispy we spread them with cheese, pour a glass of milk each, and pick a piece of fruit from the fruit bowl and sit down at the table to eat. We sit in silence until my curiosity gets the better of me.

"Clove," I say quietly, "Why did you say it was you that hit Felix last night?"

She looks down at her milk like there's something in it. She stares at it so deeply that I have to speak again.

"Clove," I say, making her look up, "Why?"

She hesitates slightly before answering, but when she does, she sounds different.

"Because… because I love you, and I don't want to see you get hurt Sas." She says quietly.

I look at her, and she looks back at me. We sit like this for a few moments, then she breaks the silence.

"Lets go and get changed for training, we don't want to be late."

"OK" I say, and gulp down the last of my milk.

I take my plate and cup to the kitchen and wash them, then put them away in the cupboard. I slowly walk up the stairs until I reach the bathroom. I run a small bath and quickly wash myself. I get out quickly so Clove can use the bathroom. I wrap a towel around my body and open the door. I quickly go over to the rope and tug on it. The ladder drops down and I climb up and pull it up after myself. I trudge over to my makeshift shelves and grab some underclothes and my brand new uniform. I turn on the light so I can actually see properly. I take a careful look at the uniform before I put it on. There's a loose tracksuit, with both pants and a hooded jacket. The pants are made from nylon, and the jacket from polyester. They're white with red stripes up the sides of the sleeves and the legs and red stitching. The jacket has a red zip up the front, and the pants have a red tie on them. The District 2 seal is on the chest of the jacket in red, and my name is on the back in the same striking red. Then I look at the actual training uniform. It's a black racer-back singlet made from a stretchy, skin-tight material with yellow stitching, with the seal on the chest in the same yellow, and my name is on the back of it in yellow as well. The shorts are made from the same grippy material as the singlet and are also black, with yellow stitching, and they come halfway down my thighs.

I put on the underclothes, then the singlet and shorts. They feel comfortable and easy to move in. I put on the tracksuit, and that feels nice as well. I go and stand in front of the old mirror I managed to salvage from somewhere so I can see what I look like. The tracksuit looks and feels good, and I go and get the socks that came with the uniform and put them on. They're white with a yellow ring around the top and are skin tight, coming up a few inches higher than my ankles. I get the shoes and put them on. They're light, lace-up running shoes, and are black with red highlights on them. I go and find a band to tie up my hair, and I quickly find a black one and tie my hair up in a high ponytail. I go over to the mirror and assess myself. The tracksuit is loose but comfortable and looks good, but I don't know what I look like in the actual training uniform. I guess I'll just find out at the Academy. My hair looks neat, but still good, and I realise what the day is.

After Clove and I had our fight at training, the doctor at the Academy had to stitch up the wound on my face, and then put some kind of ointment on it. He put a bandage over it and said I could take the bandage off in two days. It's been two days, so I carefully take off the bandage and throw it in the bin. I look at my face, and it would seem that the ointment he put on accelerated the healing process. It's already just a scar. It appears a bright white on my cheek, but I can live with that. I grab the backpack that came with the uniform and go over to the trapdoor and push down the ladder and go downstairs. Clove is already down there, and is leaning against the table waiting for me. She's dressed in her new uniform too, and her hair is tied up in a high ponytail like mine. She turns around as she hears me enter the room. I look at her and it's uncanny how alike we look.

"You ready to go Sas?" She asks me.

"Yeah, let's go."

So we leave the house and walk to the Academy. On the way there, she notices my face. She stops me so she can look at it, and places one hand gently over the scar, using her thumb to stroke my face.

"I'm sorry Sas," She says, "I didn't mean to hurt you so much."

There is a look of sadness in her eyes that I've never seen before.

"It's OK Clove," I say, "Let's keep walking."

So she takes her hand off my face and we keep walking. We keep talking though.

"So Sas," She begins, Do you still want me to train you?"

"Yes," I say, "Please. Do you still want to?"

"Of course I will."

"Thanks."

"So what are you thinking of doing?" I ask her.

"Whatever I tell you to." She says with a smirk.

I can tell I'm not going to get anywhere with this, so I don't try and get any more out of her about it.

Soon enough we reach the huge doors, and we go inside. She takes me to the girls' prep room where we keep our backpacks and take off our tracksuits. We walk in, her in front of me, and there's already a small crowd of girls in there. They all start saying hi to Clove and asking her about her weekend, and then they see me. I don't think I know any of them, but Clove knows all of them.

"Girls," She says, "This is my sister Saskia."

They all look at me and smile.

'_They must think I'm just an innocent little kid even though I fought Clove.'_

_I smile back at them and meet a few of them. I can't remember any of their names though. I'm too worried about making a good impression today. Clove pulls me over to a bench and throws her backpack down on it. She takes off her tracksuit revealing the training uniform underneath. She stuffs her tracksuit in her bag and goes back over to her friends. Everyone crowds around her, and they start talking about how much they like the new uniforms. They're saying things about how good she looks in it, and how comfortable they are. I'll agree that she does look good in it. The skin-tight material outlines all her muscles, but I still don't find that conversation very interesting, so I just throw my backpack down on the bench and take off my tracksuit._

_I stuff it into my bag and go back over to Clove. I stand beside her, and everyone gasps._

"_You two look exactly alike!" The girls say excitedly._

"_Nice Sas." Clove says approvingly._

_I look down at my own body, and I notice that the fabric outlines my few muscles as well._

"_Let's go train girls!" Clove says loudly to everyone in the room._

_They all give hoots of assent and go running out of the prep room. Clove quickly spins round and grabs my wrist._

"_Come on!" She says, laughing._

_And she drags me out of the prep room, ready to begin my real training. _


	11. Chapter 11

As I step out of the door, I hear Cato's booming voice. I look around for him, and see him wielding a sword, lopping limbs off countless dummies. I shudder as I think of what he did to those men in the alley. I jump as someone taps me on the shoulder. I spin round and see Clove standing there.

"Ready to start Saskia?" She asks me.

"Yes." I say confidently.

"Don't sound so confident," She replies, "Just because you're my sister doesn't mean I'm not going to go easy on you."

I begin to wonder what she means, but she continues, breaking my train of thought.

"You're going to be here for nine years, I'm going to be here for another four years, and those four years are going to be hell for you. I'm going to push you past your limits. You won't object to anything I make you do, because I'm the trainer, and I have full control over you. Understand?"

She says this while drawing herself up to her full height, and she says it with such intensity that I start to shake.

"Do you understand?" She almost yells at me.

"Yes." I say meekly.

"Good. Now come with me."

She walks off and I follow behind her. She leads me up a staircase into another room, and it isn't filled with weapons. This room is filled with fitness related things. I start to worry. I am weak. Clove is strong.

'_She wants to make me like her. Build me in her image.'_

"_Come here. Now." She says to me._

_I walk over to her, and I look at the floor beside her. It's a running track. It loops around in a large oval, and there are cameras at the start line._

"_First I'm going to find out exactly what sort of shape you're in," She tells me, "This is a 500 metre track, and I'm going to test your running abilities. Get on the start line in a standing position, and when you hear a beep, start running. You're going to run two laps, and these cameras will record your times."_

_I stand listening to her, but I haven't done what she said._

"_Get over there!" She barks at me._

_I walk over to the start line and ready myself._

"_Ready?" She asks me from her position at a computer._

"_Ready." I say loudly, determined to do my best._

_I stand ready, keenly listening for my signal to start. Then I hear it and my legs take over. I launch myself off the line and take steady, long strides. I have to keep this up for a kilometre. I don't look around, I focus on what's in front of me. I concentrate on keeping my breathing even, and my strides powerful. Before I know it, I've reached the cameras for my first lap. I jog past, and then I notice how much my chest is hurting. I press on, just wanting to finish. I round the final bend and have about 100 metres to go, and I just push through the pain I'm in, determined to finish. I pass the cameras for the second time and run through, slowing down after I cross the line. Clove stays at the computers for a moment longer, jotting something down in a notebook. When she does come over to me, she doesn't look too disappointed, but she doesn't look too pleased either. She still has the notebook and pen in her hands, and I look at them. She notices and starts to explain._

"_This is your new training record," She tells me, "In here I'm going to write down everything you do, and how well you do it. I'm also going to write down your physical abilities now, and check them again at the end of the four years."_

_I nod in understanding, which seems to be enough for her. _

_Then she leads me over to another running track, but this one is short and straight. Clove starts talking to me again about this track._

"_This track is a sprint track. From the start line to the finish line is 100 metres. Get on the start line and run this, and then that's all the running we're going to do today."I do as she says and go and stand on the start line. I ready myself and listen for the beep telling me to start. The moment I hear it, I'm off and running. My muscles are pushing me ever closer to the cameras at the other end. I run as if my life depends on it. In a matter of seconds I've passed the cameras and slowed down. Once Clove has written down my time, she comes over to me, but she's wearing the same expression as before._

"_Come on. We've got more work to do before lunch." She tells me._

_She leads me over to a weights bench and lays me down on it. She places a bar with 20 pounds of weights on it in my hands and tells me to do ten sets. I easily do that, then she adds another 20 pounds, and so on until I reach 60 pounds. I try to do one set, but my arms start to shake and I can't lift it. It slips out of my hands and falls on my neck. Clove is just watching me, and I can tell she's only going to do something if I can't breathe. I start seeing little white spots floating in front of my eyes, but I use all the strength I have left to heave it off my neck just before I black out completely, and I roll off the bench and onto the floor on my knees, just coughing, trying to get some air back into my lungs. I'm dizzy and feel sick, and my chest is burning. Clove writes down what I did, then comes over and lifts the bar back onto the bench with ease._

"_Just one test left Saskia, then we can go to lunch." She informs me._

"_OK." I say in a hollow voice._

_She takes me over to a spot in a corner with a small metal box bolted to the floor. I study it quickly. It has a hole in one side that looks like it can be opened and closed. I wonder what it is, but then Clove explains what it is._

"_This will test your flexibility," She tells me, "You sit on the floor and put one foot in this box, then the hole gets tightened around your ankle. Once you've done that, you spread the other leg out as far as you can, then I measure the angle made to see how flexible you are." _

_I nod and sit down on the floor and put one foot in the box. Clove leans over and tightens the hole around my ankle. I shiver at the cold touch of the metal against my skin. Clove nods at me, and I breathe out, stretching my leg out as far as I can. I get it as far as I can on my own, then Clove comes and helps me get it out further. She stretches it until I tap the floor with my hand. She taught me to do that when we do hand-to-hand combat. It means the other person needs to stop because they're hurting you. She stops pulling when she hears it, then does something that keeps my leg still, and in its stretched position. She grabs something that can measure the angle, then she jots that down in her notebook as well. She releases my legs, and I try to stand up, but I collapse on the ground, unable to support my weight._

"_If you think that's bad then wait until you get older Saskia," Clove says to me, "I told you I was going to push you. But the day isn't over yet. We'll have lunch now, then we'll do some weapons training. OK?"_

"_OK." I say simply._

_I struggle to stand, but I eventually manage it. I carefully make my way upstairs to another room filled with tables and chairs, as well as a few large trolleys filled with mounds of food. Clove and I grab a plate each and fill it with food, then go to join some of her friends at a table. We join in their conversation about District 12. They're talking about how they shouldn't be in the games because they never win, and their only living Victor won because he cheated. I never saw those games, so I just listen. Then the one person I was trying to avoid comes over and sits next to me._

_It's Cato. _


	12. Chapter 12

"Hey Sas!" Cato says to me brightly while ruffling my hair, "How's your morning been?"

"Yeah, it-it's been alright." I say nervously, and quietly too, while flinching away from him. Unfortunately Clove notices, and decides to question me about it.

"Are you OK Sas?" She asks me, concern evident in her voice.

"Yes," I say a bit too defensively, "Why?"

"Oh, just wondering," She replies, sounding unconvinced, "So Cato, I was just wondering if you could do me a favour this afternoon."

Cato goes over to sit next to Clove so they can talk, and I breathe a sigh of relief as he moves and start eating my lunch. I got some mashed potato and stewed beef with vegetables and gravy. It's still steaming hot and smells so good, so I start to dig in. I'm famished after this morning's training with Clove, and I'm wondering how I'm going to survive for the next four years with her training me, but I decide to just shut up and do what she says. She said she was going to be tough on me, but then again, she always is. So what difference does her being tough on me in training make.

'_She has weapons when she trains me,"_ I think to myself, _'She could kill me all too easily.' _

I finish the last of my lunch and go to stack my plate with all the others, then return to the table, where Clove and Cato have just finished their lunch and conversation. They go and stack their plates and come back over to me and motion for me to follow them, then they lead me down to the weapons floor. They both turn to me, and I wonder what Clove wants me to do now. But before I can begin to wonder, she starts speaking to me.

"Saskia, I know you're great with knives, and everyone else knows that too," Clove begins firmly, "But I want you to learn the basics of using other weapons as well. Occasionally they don't have knives in the Cornucopia, and sponsors might not be able to afford to get you one. So if you learn to use more than one weapon, then you stand a better chance of surviving."

"OK." I say slowly.

"Cato's going to work with you this afternoon with swords." She tells me.

"They almost always have swords in the Cornucopia you see." Cato says.

"Are you ready to go Saskia?" Clove asks me.

I nod, and Cato pulls me over to the swords. He picks a large one for himself, and I quiver in fear. It looks so deadly, and in his hands… I don't want to think about it. He hands me a small one, and it seems fairly light too.

He spends about two hours teaching me the basic form of using the sword, starting with how to swing but still be in control, then he shows me how to effectively block an opponent's swing. Then we start doing some easy combat on one another. We start with just him taking one swing at me and I block it, then I take one swing at him and he blocks it, and so on, and so forth. Then we gradually work up to more complex routines. Then after about an hour, we've worked up to a proper fight. We stand a couple of metres apart on the floor, and ready ourselves. I look around for Clove, and see her throwing knives, but she looks over at us briefly to see what we're doing. She nods to herself and turns back to her knives, and she effortlessly throws one into the heart of a dummy. I turn back to Cato and nod. He nods back, then runs at me. He takes a light strike at me, and I block it, then try to strike at him. He easily blocks it, then we try to strike at the same time. Our blades clash, fighting for dominance, and he wins, obviously, knocking it out of my hands. It clatters to the floor about ten metres away, but I don't want to give up yet. As he moves to try and strike again, I dive for my sword. His blade hits the ground with a jarring thump, and I scramble to my feet and run for my weapon. He brings his sword around to swing at me, and he slashes at my legs. I jump to avoid a painful hit, and do a dive roll for my sword. I roll as I hit the ground, and I feel the blade press into my back. It doesn't draw any blood though, so I keep rolling and reach for the handle. I pull it closer to me, and grasp it tightly. I flip off the ground, sword in hand, and find myself face-to-face with Cato's sword. I swing with all my remaining strength and manage to knock his sword away, but he quickly grabs it. It gave me enough time to dart away from him, but he's fast too. He charges at me with his sword raised, then he swings at my stomach. I block his hit with my sword, and swing at him. I just catch him on the shin, and he stumbles, shocked that I've managed to hit him. I look up and realise that everyone's watching me fight this brute. There's a collective intake of breath from the crowd, and I turn around. Cato is looking at me with fire in his normally boyish blue eyes. He runs at me and swings at my sword. He knocks it out of my hand, and I know I have no hope of getting it now. He isn't mucking around now. He's fighting.

He slashes at my leg, and opens a deep cut on my thigh that promptly starts bleeding. He isn't done yet though, as he runs at me again. I try to run away from him, and I'm shaking in fear of him. I quickly realise that I can't run anywhere, and find myself in the corner of the room. I turn around, and Cato presses his sword hard to my throat. My back is pressed up hard against the stone walls, and I'm quaking in fear. I feel like those men in the alley must have felt. All it takes is one tiny movement, and my throat is slit. He could kill me so easily, especially with his touchy temper. I look into his eyes and I can't believe that this is the same boy that used to spin me round in the air of an afternoon and laugh at my jokes and hug me when I was sad and put a bandage on me when I hurt myself. Now all I see is someone that wants to hurt me, kill me. He glares at me an intensity that sends my blood running cold. I'm beginning to wonder if it will hurt, when I see arms wrap around his waist and pull him off me, sending his sword to the ground. They throw him roughly to the ground, then whoever it is comes over to me. I try to put weight on my injured left leg, but more blood pumps out of the gaping wound, and I collapse on the ground in a pool of my own blood. The fire in my leg is so immense, total, that I don't realise who is standing over me and picking me up. The person carries me to the doctors, where they give me an injection. I immediately feel drowsy, and within a minute, my world turns an unforgiving black.

When I finally come around, it seems to be night-time, and my whole body is numb, and I'm on a bed in a white room. I get the funny feeling that I'm in the hospital, and I can feel a tight bandage on my thigh.

'_Why am I here? What happened to me?' _I'm thinking, _'I think I remember something, but I'm not quite sure.'_

_There's someone sitting in a chair next to my bed, and I try to sit up to see who it is. As I do, the room goes swooping around me, so I quickly lay back down. The person in the chair realises I'm awake and turns to me and starts saying something, but they sound all muffled and distorted and I can't understand them. I can hear a series of beeps, then I notice a drip in my arm, and see something pump into the tube and all the way into my arm, then I feel incredibly drowsy again, and my vision starts blurring._

_The drugs pull me back under their dark curtain, into their dreamless sleep. _


	13. Chapter 13

When I wake up for the second time, I find myself in the same place as before, although I can feel something tight around my ankles, wrists and abdomen. The same person is sitting next to my bed, but my vision isn't as blurry now, and I can see who it is. I think it's Clove, so I give a little moan, and her head immediately whips around to look at me. Now that I can see her face, I know it's her. I breathe a sigh of relief, and she reaches down to stroke my face.

"You OK Sas?" She asks me quietly.

"Yeah," I say weakly, "But what can I feel around me?"

I try and sit up, but realise I can't. I hear the same beeping getting faster and faster, and I realise that it must be a machine reading my pulse. Clove gently pushes me back down onto the bed.

"They're restraints. After last time, they figured that you'd need them so you didn't try and get up again."

"But why can't I sit up?" I ask her worriedly.

"Because you'll only hurt yourself more." She says while holding my hand, stroking the back of it softly with her thumb.

"So, where am I?"

"You're in the hospital."

"In District 2?" I ask her.

"Yes." She says to me simply.

Then we keep silent, just thinking about what happened.

I close my eyes, and replay in my mind exactly what happened. Cato was teaching me how to use swords, then we started doing a little training fight together. I accidentally nicked his shin with the tip of my blade, and he came after me. He had his sword across my throat and I had backed myself into a corner. Then Clove came and hauled him off me and took me to the doctors in the Academy and they injected me with something to knock me out, and then I somehow wound up in the hospital.

"Is Cato OK?" I ask Clove, "What happened to him?"

"His shin was fine, it was just a little scratch, it hardly drew blood. The trainers got a bit angry though. They're redesigning the training schedule because of it though, but it isn't starting until next week."

"What do you mean, 'redesigning it'?" I ask her, scepticism evident in my voice.

"Well, they let us vote on it after it happened, but what they're doing is having us train in groups according to our age and gender, but on one day every week, on a Wednesday I think they said, we'll be able to train how we used to."

"So you'll only get to train me one day a week?" I ask her.

"Yes," she says sadly, but then her face brightens a bit, a smile playing on her lips, and I see a maniacal glint in her eye, "But that one day a week's going to be hell for you! And I nearly forgot, we can train together on Saturdays as well!"

We both start laughing, then my face becomes serious, and I want to know more about what's happening with me.

"So what's in that drip?" I ask her, concerned.

"It's a drug from the Capitol called Morphling," She tells me, "It numbs you so that you can't feel anything, and it helps you sleep as well. That why you fall asleep every time you try to sit up."

"OK, thanks." I tell her. At least now I know what's going into my bloodstream.

We both turn to look at the door as we hear someone walk in. He's dressed in a white coat, and he has a badge on his chest that says his name is Dr Gonsa.

"Finally realised that we put you to sleep if you try and sit up?" He asks me, smiling.

"Yes." I say simply.

"Good," He replies, "Now Saskia, we put an ointment from the Capitol on your wound, and it increased the healing rate, so you'll be out of here by thus afternoon."

"Wait, so I'm fine after just one day in here?" I ask him.

"No," He says to me, looking surprised, "Don't you know how long you've been in here?"

"No," I say, shocked, "Clove?"

"Sas," She starts carefully, "You've been in here for three days."

"OK," I say, nodding slowly, "At least now I know."

"Sorry I didn't tell you earlier, I thought you'd already figured out how long it had been. I haven't even been to training since it happened, I've just been sitting here, watching you."

"If I could interject here!" The doctor says in frustration.

"Yes?" I say, equally frustrated, but with him.

"This afternoon, Clove is obligated to take you home. You will be able to train again next week, but not this weekend. Do you understand?" He says, looking down his nose at us.

"Yes we understand Sir." Clove says politely, nodding her head.

"Good. I'll see you again this afternoon to discharge you. Good day."

And with that, he walks out of the room smartly.

Clove and I look at each other and start laughing together. That man was just s ridiculous! You would have thought that we were 6 and 7 years old, not 10 and 15, by the way he was talking to us!

"Well isn't he up on his high horse!" Clove says, still laughing at him.

"Must be a pretty high horse he's got then!" I say.

"Well for it to be that high, it must be a Mutt!" Clove says.

"You got that one right!" I say.

We keep laughing until a nurse comes in and asks me why my pulse is so high. We'd been laughing so hard that we hadn't heard the rapid beeping. She wags a finger at us disapprovingly, and we just grin at each other.

"What did Mum and Dad say about my getting hurt in training?" I ask her. Something this bad would surely earn her a huge beating. She holds up her wrist, and it has a cast around it.

"What the fuck did they do to you?!" I yell, hearing my pulse rise. I notice the bruises and cuts on her face. This sends my pulse even higher.

"Calm down Sas, calm down," She says to me gently, stroking my face softly with her good hand, "Yes, they nearly broke my wrist, in actual fact they put a tiny crack in the bone, but the doctors fixed it here, and I get my cast off today, just before we go home. And yes they hit me, but the doctors fixed up the bruises and cuts as well."

I take a few deep breaths so my pulse slows down and the nurse doesn't come back in to scold us.

"Don't worry, they won't do anything to us when we get back. They've just decided to ignore us and let us fend for ourselves. In fact, they threatened to kick us out of the house if anything else happens."

"Well even if they do kick us out, that's still definitely an improvement!" I say happily.

"Yes, it is." She says, a small smile forming on her face.

We smile at each other warmly, then drowsiness overcomes both of us, and we fall asleep.

Holding hands, each keeping the other safe.


	14. Chapter 14

I slowly open my eyes, blinking from the afternoon light streaming in through the window. The first thing I notice is that my restraints are gone, and there aren't any tubes sticking out of my arm, or any machines next to the bed. I gently stretch myself out, hearing my joints crack as I do. I look beside my bed and see Clove still sitting in the chair, awake, and I notice that her cast is gone. She looks at me as she hears the crack of my joints, and smiles.

"Feeling good Sas?" She asks me gently.

"A lot better," I reply, "What about you? Your wrist OK?"

"Yeah, it's perfectly fine now, it just has a bandage on it. I can start training again next week."

"That's good." I say, smiling. She smiles back at me warmly. I think about what life would be like if we were kicked out of the house. We have no other family, nowhere else to go. I feel tears well up in my eyes, until they begin to cascade over my lashes. Clove puts a hand on the small of my back and lifts me into a sitting position. She comes and sits on the bed next to me and I rest my head on her shoulder, with tears streaming silently down my cheeks. She has one hand around my body, and the other one is stroking my hair gently. She knows why I'm crying. I'm crying because if we get kicked out, we have nowhere to go. No other family, and I doubt we have any friends that would take us. If we get kicked out, we're on our own. I just hope it doesn't come to that. If it does, we will have no money, no food, and no shelter, and we will, eventually, die.

"Sas," She says softly, "We're going to be OK. We can leave them if we want to."

"But we won't have anywhere to go." I say, even quieter than her.

"There's one more floor at the Academy that I haven't shown you, because right now, I'm not allowed to. Up there, they have rooms where some people stay if they live too far away, or they want to get there really early. We can live there if we want to. They give us most of our food, and it hardly costs anything."

My tears keep making tracks down my face, and she can tell she hasn't said enough.

"Sas, we're going to be fine. As long as we're together, we'll get through this. If you want to, we can leave by next week and go and live there, but only if you want to."

"Are you sure?" I ask her, looking up at her calm face.

"Sas, I'm going to promise you one thing. And that one thing is that I'm going to protect you with my life. Personally, I don't think we're safe living with Mum and Dad, but I'll leave the choice up to you."

"I-I," I start, not knowing exactly what to say. But eventually I come up with an answer, "I want to leave too."

"OK then. They won't care if we do or not. How about we spend tonight at home for our last night, and on the way home we can stop in at the Academy and organise to start living there from tomorrow. Then we can go home, pack a rucksack each with the things we need like any knives, our uniforms, other clothes, personal things, then we'll leave, and go to the Academy, and set up our room. OK?"

"OK." I say nervously.

The doctor comes into the room again and tells us that we can go, so we leave, laughing at his pompous manner once again. I'm still wearing my training uniform, so Clove hands me my backpack and I put on my tracksuit. We bid farewell to the two women at the desk near the entrance and start walking. We walk in silence, Clove having one arm around my shoulders while tears manage to squeeze themselves out of my eyes. We stay like this for the whole 20 minute walk to the Academy, then she lets go when we arrive. We walk through the huge doors together and go over to the front desk where we see Syron sitting. For a moment he looks quizzical, but then beams at us.

"Saskia, what a pleasure to see you again!" He crows.

"Likewise Syron!" I say happily, and we shake hands.

"Clove!" He exclaims, "How are you?"

"I'm very well thankyou Syron." She says politely.

"There is one question I do wish to ask of you though. Why exactly are you here? Surely you can't begin you training again until next week?"

"Yes, that's right, but we aren't here to train. We wanted to ask about the boarding scheme." She says.

"But surely you don't live that far away from here?" He asks us.

"Yes, but we don't believe that it's safe to continue living with our parents anymore." She says curtly.

"Ah. I see," He says, "So you want to board here until your final Reaping Clove?"

"Yes, then I'll leave with Saskia and care for her."

"That sounds like a good plan." He says approvingly.

"But how much is this going to cost?" I ask timidly.

"Well," He says, "It will cost you about five silver pieces a week combined, which is rather cheap considering all the benefits of this scheme."

"So does that mean we'll need to get a job to be able to pay?" I ask him.

"Well you will need to find some means of earning the money to pay the fees." He replies curtly.

"That is cheap," Clove says slowly, "So we'll take it. We'll come about midday tomorrow."

I nod in agreement, and watch as Clove shakes hands with Syron and fills out a form. She finishes her part of the form and hands me the pen so I can fill out my part of the form. I carefully write my name and sign on a dotted line. Syron takes the sheet from me and I hand him the pen. He looks over the sheet and nods in approval. He pulls out two cards and two wrapped needles. He puts one of the cards on the top of the desk and unwraps one of the needles. Clove steps forwards and puts out her hand. He pricks the end of her finger with the needles and squeezes it to make a bead of blood appear, which he wipes on the card. She steps back after he lets go of her hand, and Clove pushes me forward. I back away quickly from the desk, having no wish to have my blood taken. But as soon as I start to back away, Clove has her hands in a biting grip on my shoulders, shoving me forwards. She roughly slams my the back of my hand on the desk, holding my index finger out so Syron can prick it. I struggle against her, but her thumb is resting on my wrist, and she pushes down with it hard, hitting a pressure point, rendering me helpless. Syron quickly brings the needle down on my finger. I feel it pierce my skin, moving down through my flesh. I flinch, but Clove just holds me in her iron grip. I can feel the needle being removed from my body, and relax. While Syron is getting the card, Clove squeezes my finger so I can get through this as quickly as possible. When Syron looks up, there's a bead of blood already formed on my finger, which Clove wipes on the card. Syron thanks us and dismisses us, so we walk out, and start our final walk home.

Clove holds me like she did on the way here, and we stay silent as we make this trip for, potentially, the last time. We soon get home, and find our parents in the kitchen with Felix. They glare at us coldly, but say nothing. We walk upstairs together, going to her room first. She sits on her bed and I sit down next to her, resting my head on her shoulder, crying. She lifts me onto her lap and holds me protectively and I cling to her, not wanting to be separated from the one person I know I truly love. We stay like this until the sun goes down, then she lifts me off her lap and goes to turn the light on. When she comes back over to me, she starts explaining what we're going to do tomorrow.

"Go upstairs, get some sleep, then tomorrow we'll pack our rucksacks, OK?" She says to me.

"But what about food?" I ask her.

"They won't let us eat any of theirs, so we'll just have to go without tonight."

"But I have some in the attic."

"Like what?" She asks me.

"A couple of bread rolls that aren't stale, a full bottle of water and a couple of fresh apples."

"Well bring it down and we'll eat, then go to sleep." She says.

I nod and climb up the ladder, going over to the box I keep my food in. I pull out the string bag with the food in it and go back down to Clove. We sit on her bed and eat everything, then hug each other tightly, and I go up to my room.

I change into my sleep clothes and snuggle under the blanket on my mat. I curl up into a ball holding my teddy, thinking about what will come tomorrow. I don't know what will happen, but I do know that we'll be happy. I smile at the thought of finally being able to sleep at night knowing that we won't be abused by our parents and Felix the next day. I think about all the blows they've laid on me over the years. I think about all the pain Clove has inflicted on me over the years. The pain from them was dull, but I could never forgive them for it. They kept hurting me, even after I told them to stop, and they would start for no reason. Whatever torture Clove inflicted on me was more complete and absolute, but she always stopped as soon as I started begging her, and she would always clean me up afterwards, but they would just leave me there. She could always be forgiven, but I could never forgive them. They made my life hell, but Clove made me stronger. She taught me to fight, and to never give up. She taught me that I'll get knocked down, I'll hurt, I won't be able to take it anymore, but if I keep going and push through the pain, I'll win. All they taught me was how to hate, and that there are evil people in my life. I snuggle closer to my teddy under the blankets and think about Clove. I love her, and trust her with my life. She's more than what people think of her as. They view her as a sadistic monster, and she can be towards me, but she's my sister.

And I love her.


	15. Chapter 15

I slowly open my eyes and blink at the ray of sun making its way through my window onto my face. I sit up and stretch, then look around my room for the last time. This is the last time I'm going to wake up here on this bed. It might not be much, but it's been mine for five years. I'm going to miss this room, but I'll be safe from abuse if I leave. I start at the sudden noise of the ladder dropping down, but then relax when I see Clove's head poking up through the hatch. She comes over to me and sits on my bed and looks me right in the eye. She reaches out and strokes my face gently with one hand and pulls me into a hug with the other. I let her pull away, but she still keeps one hand resting on my leg. She hands me a folded piece of paper and I unfold it and look at the list that Clove's written on it. It's a list of everything that I need to pack, and it's not much.

"They'll provide us with clothes, but if you want to take some of your own, you can," She explains, "But I'd leave some here just in case.""OK" I say, and she goes back down to her room to pack, and I decide to start my packing, but then her head pops back into view.

"Don't forget your training gear." Is all she says before she disappears once again.

I go and get changed first, shivering from a draft blowing through the gap under the window. I'm not going to miss that. I take off my sleeping clothes and slip into my underclothes, then throw on an old singlet and flannelette shirt, along with some cargo pants. I pull on some socks and my lace-up boots, then run a brush through my hair, leaving it out. I rummage around in the boxes around the attic until I find my rucksack. It's fairly small, about 40 litres, but incredibly tough. I grab my training bag and put all my training gear in it, then stuff it in my rucksack, followed by my first knife. I kept it to remind me of Clove. She engraved our initials into the handle, so I wrap it in an old shirt and put it in the rucksack. I don't really have much else I want to take, so I decide to check the list Clove gave me. It only says to bring my training gear in my training bag stuffed into my rucksack, any knives I have and anything else I really want to take. We can buy anything else we need. That's it. I grab the knife she gave me for my birthday and strap on the belt. The rest of my life is going to be in this rucksack. It's a sobering thought, but one I have to live with. I sit on my mat and gaze around the attic, drinking in all the memories it gave me over the years. Watching the Games with Clove, her telling me about training and how to win, her fixing me up whenever I got hurt. It all happened in here. Not all of the memories were good though. Hiding up here when I needed to get away, coming up here to fix myself up after they hurt me when Clove was on a training camp. They all happened, and now they're all just memories. I decide I've packed everything I need, so I haul my rucksack onto my back and climb down the ladder for the last time. I walk into Clove's room, expecting her to chastise me for taking so long. But that's not what I find when I walk through the door. Instead I find Clove's bloodied body, lying on the floor.

I see a small note pinned to her shirt, so I take it off and read it.

'_You will never be safe. Either of you.'_

_I wonder what it's written in, but then I notice the small, deliberate cut on her arm. The sick realisation hits me. They've written it in her own blood. I know they've done this as their last act of violence on us, but I just can't let this one go. I take off my rucksack and throw it on the floor. This is the last time I'll have to do this, and I'm going to make it count. I scurry up the ladder again and grab a long, sturdy pole from the corner. If it comes to a fight, I can't be too close. I won't use my knife, because then it would be too tempting to kill them, and I can't do that. I go back down to Clove's room and take off my belt. I lay it on my rucksack, and go down to find them. I move cautiously, not wanting to be heard. I see them outside, and notice that all of them have heavy, wooden bats. Mine is about twice as long as theirs, and I just hope I'll get the edge with that. I barge out the door to them, and almost immediately they turn on me. Dad rushes towards me, bat raised, but I'm ready for it. I raise my pole and swing at his stomach. He falls to his knees coughing, but quickly stands up again. He runs towards me again, but this time I know exactly where I'm aiming. He has a rather wide stance when he runs, and I use that to my advantage. I turn side on to him and swing my pole between his legs, hitting him in the groin. I swing as hard as I can, and he collapses to the ground, tears in his eyes. I bring the pole down on his head, knocking him out, then Mum charges at me. She swings aiming for my head, but misses. She spins round as she does this, leaving her back to me, making her very vulnerable. I swing at her hard, and she falls to the ground, landing on her face. I bring my pole down on her head, taking her out of the fight. Now there's just Felix, and this is going to be the hardest fight. This is where I'm going to get hurt. He's the fittest and hardest working. He works at the quarries, loading the stone onto trucks. He has plenty of muscle, and he's not afraid of using it, even on his littlest sister._

_He swings at my legs, managing to hit both of my shins. I reward him with an involuntary sharp shriek of pain. I fall to my knees and he takes this opportunity to hit me in the stomach. I collapse on the ground, losing my grip on my pole. It rolls along the grass away from me, leaving me injured and weaponless. I curl up into a ball, but that doesn't stop the crushing blow to my ribs. I hear a crack, and a searing pain throbs through my ribs. They're definitely broken, but that won't stop him, or even slow him down for that matter. He swings at me again, so I quickly raise my left arm and brace myself for the blow. The bat hits my forearm and I gasp in pain, but swiftly snatch at it, somehow managing to grab it before he can pull it away. He stumbles, but quickly regains his strength, yanking it away. I feel a searing pain shoot up my arm and gasp, clutching at my wrist. I flip from my back onto my feet, but he catches me off guard, hitting me hard in the shins. I fall to my knees and he slams the bat on my right shoulder. I reach for it, but he hits my wrist again, making the pain even worse. I collapse again, and this time he stops for a moment. I take the opportunity to use the tiny window I have while he turns around to survey the yard to crawl over to my pole. It's the only chance I have to win this fight, and if I miss this chance, I will probably die. I stretch my fingers as far as I can from where I lay and they just reach the handle. My fingertips rustle a leaf, and Felix spins round and looks at me. He sees what I'm doing and just before I can grasp my pole, he stamps on my fingers with a sickening crunch. I don't think they're broken, but they hurt like hell. He turns around again, but I'm not going to go down just yet. I reach out again, this time managing to pull the handle a few millimetres towards me, but that turns out to be just enough. I wrap my fingers around the handle and force myself to my feet._

_Without Felix having a clue. _


	16. Chapter 16

I deliberately tread on a twig, and the crack echoes through the yard. He spins around, shock etched into his face, but my pole is there waiting for him, and I swing it round his face. He spins again, but when he comes around again, he takes a swing at me, hitting my face. He hits my jaw, and I turn to spit blood from my mouth. I put a hand to my mouth and find blood trickling from my split lip.

'_Thanks Felix," _I think, _'I just got out of hospital, I don't want to go back in there anytime soon.'_

_I turn back around and see him smiling cockily, laughing at my injuries._

'_Like we said before Saskia," he says to me, a glare appearing on his face, "You two will never be safe, wherever you go."_

"_You don't scare us Felix!" I yell, "you're nothing but a coward!"_

_As soon as he hears the last word roll off my tongue, he flies into a rage unlike any I've seen from him before. He stands up straight with his bat raised right above his head, ready to hit me._

"_Say goodbye Saskia," he says, "Clove's next."_

_But as he swings the bat down, I find myself bring mine up to meet his. I hold mine in a strong position above my head, parallel with the ground, bracing myself for the blow. As his bat meets mine I push up, making sure he doesn't get my head. The hit rattles through my body, but I ignore it. I keep pushing away from my head, and with a last shove, his bat flies out of his hands onto the ground a few metres away. He stares at me in shock, but the look on his face dissolves when I hit him in the head. His body crumples lifelessly to the ground, and I breathe a sigh of relief. _

_I drop my pole and rush inside to Clove, where I find her sitting on her bed, worry etched into her face. I look at her arm and see that she's put a bandage over the cut. It doesn't need any special attention, it was just a small one anyway. She gets up and walks over to me, then wraps her arms around me. I let out a gasp of pain, and she immediately recoils._

"_What's wrong?" She asks me._

_I look at myself and figure out what actually needs attention. My shins are both just bruised, but they're OK. My ribs still throb from where he hit me, and they definitely need looking at. My left arm is bruised, but I think I might have sprained the wrist. My right shoulder's a bit sore, but it's still something that I can manage. My fingers crack when I clench my fists, but that fixes them._

"_The only things that really need attention are my ribs and left wrist," I say, "the rest of me is sore, but nothing worth any special attention."_

"_OK, lets get down there, and you can get checked out. Do you think you can walk down there with your pack?"_

"_I'm not sure, but I'll try." I say, trying to keep my voice even._

"_OK," she says, "let's go."_

_I swing my pack onto my back and follow Clove out the door. It's not long before we arrive at the Academy. My hair is plastered to my forehead with sweat, and there's a searing pain in my chest. Clove opens the doors and lets me walk in first, shutting it behind her. Syron is at the desk and stands when we walk in. Clove walks over to him and whispers something in his ear, to which he nods. Clove takes my good arm and leads me past the weapons, up the stairs past the gym, past the dining hall, and up one more flight of stairs until we reach a corridor with doors lining it. We walk up the corridor until we reach door number 4. Syron unlocks the door and hands Clove the key, then motions for us to put our bags down and follow him. He leads us down just one flight of stairs this time and through the dining hall and over to another door. When we walk through it, I'm led over to a table and Clove lifts me up and lays me down on it, and I then realise how much pain I'm actually in. It doesn't help that the doctor that comes over has to probe my ribs to find out what's wrong with them. I thrash around and scream in pain, but the doctor just gets two other men that hold me down while he puts rope restraints on my ankles, wrists, waist and neck, as well as a gag in my mouth and a blindfold over my eyes. He sends the other men away again and continues to probe my ribs. With Clove's consent, he removes my shirt, singlet and pants, leaving me in just my underclothes with the ropes rubbing against my bare skin as I struggle. He probes my whole body, but he isn't gentle like Clove would be. After a while he stops, and my body is coated in a thin sheen of sweat and I'm shaking._

"_You have a sprained wrist and bruised ribs," he says, "I will give you a shot of Morphling and when you wake up in a couple of hours, they will be fixed."_

_I can't move, but he knows that I understand. He walks away to a trolley with various vials and needles on it. While he's gone, Clove leans over me and kisses my forehead._

"_I'm staying right here Sas, the whole time." She says, stroking my face gently with her thumb._

_The doctor comes back with what is probably a needle full of Morphling. I feel something stab my arm, and liquid being injected into my bloodstream. The needle is pulled out and my body goes numb, before I completely black out. _

_When I come around, I'm still tied down and in only my underclothes. The gag and blindfold are still on, but I feel fine. A bit sore underneath the ropes, but my ribs and wrist don't hurt as much now. I can remember Clove said that she was going to stay with me the whole time, so I make a grunting noise through the gag, trying to get her attention._

"_Sas?" she asks, "is that you?"_

_I grunt again, trying to make it sound vaguely like a yes. I hear soft footsteps approaching, then Clove kisses my forehead gently. She stops, and I can imagine her thinking about something, then I hear her call out to one of the doctors._

"_Can her restraints come off and her clothes go back on yet?"_

"_Yes," one man replies, "you can do it yourself if you want."_

_I feel her cool hands at the base of my skull, then the gag loosens, before it's pulled away and I stretch my mouth. I don't try to talk though, so the room stays eerily silent. Her hands reach higher and untie the blindfold before pulling it off, but I'm momentarily blinded by the afternoon light. She moves to the side of the table and unties the ropes around my neck, wrists, waist and ankles. With her help I sit up and she hands me my clothes and helps me dress again. When I'm dressed, she sits herself up on the table and lifts me up to sit on her lap. The doctor that looked at me before comes back to tell us the results._

"_You're ribs aren't broken," he says, "but they are bruised. I rubbed in an ointment that reduced the bruising, so they should be fine by tomorrow, but don't strain yourself too much tomorrow."_

_I nod in understanding, but he isn't finished._

"_Your wrist was sprained, and I wrapped it, but before training tomorrow, come up here and I'll give you a brace for it."_

_I nod again and he dismisses us, so Clove and I go back up to our room. She helps me up the stairs, because I'm still a bit shaky, then she unlocks the door. We walk over to the desk and chairs in the corner, where we find a small pamphlet about boarding sitting on the desk. It has the rules, fees, timetables, maps and general information in it. It says that we can customise our room to how we want and move the furniture around as well._

_We look at the beds and notice that they can be either separate small beds, joined together to make one big bed, or sat on top of each other to make bunk beds. We decide to join them together first so we can feel safe and know that both of us are together. We put the bed up against the wall adjacent to the door and put on the sheet, pillows and the big, thick blanket. We hang two towels on the rack on the side of the wardrobe, then hang up our training gear and put our other clothes in there as well. We put our knives and other things in the chests that we put on either side of the bed._

"_Clove?" I ask._

"_Yeah Sas?"_

"_Can we go into town so I can get something?"_

"_Sure! What do you want to get?"_

"_I… um…" I stutter, feeling embarrassed about telling her this, "can I go and buy a teddy bear? I left the old one I had behind, just in case I ever had to go back there."_

"_Of course we can go and get you a teddy! And while we're there, we can try and find some jobs so we can pay the boarding fees."_

"_OK, when can we go?"_

"_Well I guess we can go now," she says, consulting the timetable, "we don't have anything to do for another hour, seeing as you were out of it for two hours. Are you ready to go?"_

"_Yeah, let's go!"_

_We walk out the door, Clove with a few silver pieces in her pocket, then we lock the door and make our way downstairs and out the doors to head off to the centre of town._

_Ready to start our new lives with each other. _


	17. Chapter 17

As we walk down the street, Clove explains to me what sort of jobs we should get.

"Sas, we should get jobs that take up most of our Sundays, and our free afternoons after training on weekdays, and some time on Saturdays. We need as much money as we can get."

I nod in agreement, thinking about what sort of job I want to get.

"What sort of jobs we should get, I don't know, but something that we can do well would be ideal, and if we don't work together that's OK. In fact, not working together would be good. It would help us become more independent."

We soon reach the market, and it's still busy because it's market day. We find a stall that sells children's toys, and I pick out a fluffy, brown teddy bear. Once I buy that, Clove and I split up to find jobs for each of us. I wander around for about fifteen minutes before I find a small stall with a sign out the front saying that they're looking for workers. I walk in and spot a woman sitting at the back of the tiny tent. She looks like she's about twenty-five, and she's fairly well built. The sign said that they were looking for strong, young individuals for work. She sees me walk in and stands up, smiling.

"Hi," she says, "are you interested in working here? My name's Marana by the way."

" Hi Marana, well…," I start, "I need money for myself and my sister."

She gives me a funny look, so I explain further.

"We train at the Academy and we just started boarding there because our parents are… abusive and we didn't want to live with them anymore, so we need jobs to afford the boarding fees."

"I see. So are you interested in working for me?"

"What would I have to do?"

"We just do things like chopping wood and rough stone cutting for builders, so you need to be strong for this job."

"But I thought wood was District Seven's job?" I say quizzically.

"It is, but that all goes to the Capitol, unless a district needs it for an official purpose, such as an improvement to the justice building. Not just local builders and domestic houses."

"Oh, I see."

"So, do you want to work here?"

"Well this seems like a good job."

"Are you strong enough? What are your basic details?" she asks me.

"My name is Saskia, I'm ten years old, I'm small for my age but stronger than most people my age."

She looks me up and down, assessing my physicality.

"Do you mind?" she asks me.

"Go ahead." I say.

She walks around me, feeling my muscles.

"So will you work here?"

"Definitely." I say happily.

"Good. Come with me and I'll figure out times that suit you. When are you free to work?"

I reach into my pocket for my weekly timetable.

"Well, my Sundays are free, a few hours on Saturdays, and an hour or so on weekday afternoons."

Marana checks in her book then turns to me again.

"Could you work all day on Sundays from eight until six?" she asks me.

"Of course!" I say, excited by the prospect of working.

"What about Saturday afternoons for three hours between three and six?"

"Definitely!"

"Well, we also need someone to work for an hour from half past four until half past five on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Can you do that as well?"

"I think I could manage that."

"You also need a uniform, and we each have a heavy-duty canvas bag for all our stuff, and you'll get your tools today as well. All that is free, and you earn two copper pieces for every hour you work."

"So that means I get thirty-two copper pieces a week, which is a bit more than three silver pieces a week. I'll take it!"

"So I'll be seeing you on Tuesday then?"

"Yes. Where do I find you?"

"You'll find us at the small building at the edge of the woods at the edge of the district. Come with me and we'll get your stuff."

I follow her to the back of the tent where she hands me a black skin-tight singlet, a blue, black and white patterned sleeveless flannelette shirt with the logo on it, brownish-green knee-length cargo shorts, thin, stretchy black socks that come past my ankles, black pull-on steel cap boots and a black cap with the logo on it.

"Do I need to try them on?" I ask her.

"No, these are the smallest clothes we have. You're a lot smaller than the other people we have working here, but you're strong, so I'm sure you can handle the work."

I put the clothes on the table, then she hands me a black canvas bag. She gives me a small axe, about half a metre long, a length of thick rope that's about five metres long and a few tie-down straps, a harness that fits around my waist and legs with straps around my chest and shoulders with loops to hold tools, a heavy hammer and a thick chisel, a small handsaw with a 25centimetre curved serrated blade and moulded handle, a foldable metal platform, along with a black helmet and skin-tight gloves with grippy pads on the palms, along with elbow and knee pads.

"This is all your gear, and it'll all fit in your bag." Marana tells me.

"So I just bring all this with me on Tuesday?" I ask her.

"Yes, then we'll give you all jobs."

"That sounds good. I'd better go now, but I'll see you on Tuesday."

"OK, bye Saskia!"

"Bye Marana!"

I carefully put all of my gear in my bag, sling it over my shoulder, and walk out of the tent. I keep walking until I'm at the entrance to the town square. I see Clove standing with a toolbox waiting for me, so I walk over to her.

"Where were you?" she asks me impatiently.

"I was just getting all of my stuff," I explain, "there was a heap of it."

"OK then, lets head back. We'll have about twenty minutes before dinner, but we have to go to the nightly meeting fifteen minutes before. Come on, or we're going to be late."

We quickly walk back, only taking about five minutes, leaving us just enough time to put our work things in our room and go downstairs to the meeting room off the dining hall. We settle on one of the couches with some of Clove's friends, where we find out that I'm the youngest boarder here, ever. The next youngest person was a twelve-year-old boy.

'_Just old enough for the reaping.' I think to myself._

_They keep talking while I listen, until the boarding house master enters, and we all stand. He tells us to be seated, then welcomes Clove and I into the boarding house. After that he talks about other little things that don't concern me, as he's talking about putting in reaping forms. All I have to do is go out to the square when I hear the whistle that rings out through the district, signalling for everyone to leave their houses and go to the square. When we're dismissed, we all file out into the dining hall, where steaming piles of food are laid out on the tables, just waiting to be served. We all take a place, then hold our hands over our hearts and recite the District 2 oath._

"_I will be strong, I will be brave. I will fight to the end, I will give it my all. And most of all I will never give up and always do everything to the best of my abilities."_

_The oath rings throughout the hall before we sit down and pile the plates sitting in front of us with food from the platters down the centre of the table._

_I pile my plate with cooked pasta and ladle on a creamy sauce with pieces of mushroom, onion and wild chicken in it. I sprinkle some cheese onto it, then eat. It's so much better than what we used to have at home. It tastes so much better, and there's a running conversation going on the whole time. I can remember some of Clove's friends' names as well. There's a nice blond-haired girl called Gizella who's seventeen, but turning eighteen in a few days, red-headed sixteen-year-old Kalia, and eighteen-year-old Satari, who has black hair and a younger sister that stays at home, because she isn't overly serious about the Games and is only eleven, but isn't going to pass her training test when she turns twelve. I ask her about it, and she tells me that you have to quit your training when you turn twelve if you fail your test. Some people aren't interested in the Games and fail deliberately, but others are serious about it but just don't have the skills and end up failing. While we're talking, we all finish eating and put our plates and cutlery in the wash buckets to be washed. When we return, the main meal is gone, and has been replaced by dessert, which is sweet custard rice. We keep talking until we finish our dessert, and I feel more content than I have in a long time._

_And that moment of happiness is one that I'm never going to forget. _


	18. Chapter 18

After we put our dessert things in the wash buckets, we go back to our rooms to get our pyjamas and towels to have our showers. The boys and girls each have their own separate wings of the house, with their own facilities, rooms and common rooms. Clove and I walk back to our room and find out that ours is next door to the one shared by Gizella, Kalia and Satari. Clove and I pick out our pyjamas, and I find a pair of black and white checked shorts, about mid-thigh length with a purple ribbon tie, and a tight, purplish camisole with silver glitter spots all over it, so I grab my towel and wait for Clove. She gets her things and we walk over to the bathroom, where we find out that the water is at a pre-set temperature and pressure and we have five minutes after we press the start button to be finished, otherwise the water cuts off. We queue up outside, Clove letting me go first, and I wait for about ten minutes, then take the bandage off my wrist and spend my five minutes under the steaming water, washing off the painful memories of the day. I look down at my chest and it looks perfectly fine, but they're still a little bit sore. My wrist looks a bit blue and swollen, and I have to remember to ask Clove to put my bandage back on. I press the stop button and step out of the shower and into the little cubicle in front of the shower to dry myself off and put on my pyjamas. I grab my bandage and pad up the carpeted corridor to our room. I put my dirty clothes in our washing basket and jump when I hear the door open. Clove walks in and dumps her clothes in the bin before looking at me.

"Come on, let's go down to the common room," she says to me, glancing at my wrist, "and I can put your bandage back on when we get down there."

I nod, and we walk out the door together, softly padding down the hall to the common room, from which we can hear excited squeals and short shrieks, so I assume they're watching a re-run of an old Hunger Games.

We walk in and settle on one of the large plush chairs. Clove sits down first, then lifts me up and sits me up on her lap.

"Liking the place already I see!" Satari says happily.

"Well at least I know I'm not going to get abused." Clove says grimly.

"How bad did it get?" Gizella asks us seriously.

"Show her Sas." Clove urges me.

"Which one?" I say, the corner of my mouth twitching.

"Show them the one from when I started here."

I walk over to Gizella and pull up the side of my cami to show her a jagged scar running around my waist. She gasps in shock and looks away quickly, before slowly bringing her head back around to look at it again.

"Can I?" she asks, her fingers outstretched.

"Of course." I say calmly.

She lightly places her fingertips over the beginning of it and runs them along it to the end.

"How?" is all she asks me next.

"The day Clove started here, I was only four, we used to share a room together, but after she started training, our parents tried to make her sleep in the attic, but I started arguing with them, saying that she shouldn't have to sleep up there because she needs a good sleep after training and everything, but they wouldn't listen. I kept arguing, but Mum was making dinner and had a knife in her hand. I never noticed it before and by the time I did, it was too late. She'd slashed at me and cut me right open and I was screaming. I can't remember much, except seeing my own blood pooling on the ground and Clove taking me to the hospital."

Their faces say it all, but Clove continues where I left off.

"She slashed at her, then Dad was drunk and kicked her, right where she'd been cut, then he came and punched me, then Mum slapped me and they both walked off, leaving Felix there laughing. He looked on for a few more minutes, then left too. She was screaming so much, I couldn't believe a four-year-old could make such a terrifying noise. Her blood just kept pouring out, so I wrapped her in a blanket, she was so tiny that she was just a bundle of blankets, and I ran with her down to the hospital. She had to get a blood transfusion because she had lost so much blood, and I remember going to training the next day and visiting her ever day after training for the whole two weeks that she was stuck in there. It was horrible, she couldn't do anything. But our parents didn't end up really caring about who slept where, so she convinced me to stay in our old room and she'd sleep in the attic. That was the worst time of my life. I felt so helpless, and it was then that I knew that we weren't going to be safe there anymore."

I pull the fabric back down over the ugly scar and listen to everyone recount memories from back then.

"I remember seeing you at training Clove," Kalia says, "you looked really down."

"Yeah," says Gizella, "you seemed angry too, you were throwing harder than normal."

"I remember seeing your face," Satari says, "you had a black eye and a cut on your face."

"While I'm thinking about getting hurt," I say, "can you put my bandage back on, Clove?"

"Come over here and I'll do it," she says, "don't forget to go down and get your brace tomorrow."

"I won't," I say, walking over to her, "just make sure you remind me in the morning."

"Yeah, sit down and shut up," she says while pulling me onto her lap.

I turn myself around so she can reach my wrist, then hand her the bandage and she gently lifts up my wrist.

"Just keep it there," she says, "I'll wrap it up tight."

I nod and keep my wrist still. She carefully wraps the bandage around my wrist. At one point she accidentally bumps the exposed part of my wrist with her fingers. I wince slightly, but she keeps on wrapping, ignoring my pain. She winds it round one last time, pulling it tight, then clips it shut, before playfully shoving me off her. I quickly scan the room for a seat, and pull a soft, plush chair over to Clove and her friends. I drop into it and sigh happily. The soft fabric envelopes me, surrounding me with its warmth. I look at the TV and see that they're watching the re-run of the 65th Hunger Games with Finnick Odair in it. That would explain the excited squeals. Finnick's just taken his shirt off to go swimming in the lake in the arena. All of the girls are sighing, looking at his gorgeous body. He dives under the water and a parachute floats down to him. It's his famous trident, and almost as soon as he picks it up, the Careers from 2 come for him. They're heavily built, both wielding heavy swords. One of them steps on a twig and Finnick tenses, ready to spring. All three tributes raise their weapons, ready for the final fight. Before the tributes from 2 can react, the boy is dead with the trident embedded in his chest. Finnick pulls it from his chest, and watches as blood drips from the tips of the prongs. The girl swings at him, but he swats her sword away with the spear he already had. She doesn't expect it, and her sword tumbles from her hands. He holds his trident to her throat and she falls to her knees, but holds her head high, not wanting to beg him for her life. He holds her stare, a look of sadness in his eyes for a moment, before he drives the trident through her throat. The blood gushes from her wound, before she crumples to the ground and the cannon booms. I know why Finnick looks so sad. The two of them were allies before he deserted the Careers, and I think he liked her. It must be hard to kill someone close to you, but that's what the Capitol makes us do.

We keep watching intently, the older girls occasionally giving me comments on what's happening and how it's taught to us. Apparently the new system puts us in age and gender groups, and we each learn according to what our trainer thinks is best for us. Apparently they're also going to be big on discipline too, which I'm not too keen on. The re-run finishes at 9, so once it finishes, we all say goodnight and head off to bed. I'm so tired after the day's events that I just pull back the blanket and snuggle underneath it as soon as we walk in. Clove climbs in next to me and kisses my forehead softly, stroking my hair before wrapping her arm around me gently.

So I close my eyes and snuggle closer to her, dreams taking over my world.


	19. Chapter 19

When I wake, Clove is already sitting up beside me.

"Come on Sas!" she says happily, "we can start training again now!"

I jump out of bed and we put on jackets and track pants over our pyjamas and go to get our breakfast. I don't have much, just a piece of bread with jam and a glass of milk, with an orange. I down it all quickly, then we go back to our room to get changed for training. I pull on my underclothes then put on my training gear. I slip my tracksuit back on over the top and put on my socks and shoes. I quickly brush my hair and tie it up in a high ponytail. I slip my backpack over my shoulder and walk out after Clove. I'm about to follow her down to the training room, but she yells to me over her shoulder.

"Brace!" she yells.

"I'm going there now!" I yell back and turn around and head back to the doctor to get my brace.

Almost as soon as I walk through the door, he's in front of me.

"Hello Saskia," he says, "here's your wrist brace. I'm afraid we're quite busy, so I can't stay and chat, but I'm sure we'll be seeing each other soon."

"Thankyou Sir." I say respectfully, taking it and leaving.

I head down to the change rooms and throw my bag down on the bench. I slip off my tracksuit and carefully unravel the bandage before putting the brace on my wrist. It fits well, and my wrist feels secure.

"Sas, there's a meeting on before training starts." Clove tells me, before turning back to her friends.

I nod and walk over to them, adjusting my brace as I go, until it fits properly. When I reach them, we all turn and walk out the door to the training hall. We see the head trainer standing in the middle of the room, a small crowd slowly forming in front of him. We join the few people that are already there and wait quietly for the rest to join us. After a few minutes, everyone else is here and waiting for the announcement.

"Welcome students," he begins in his booming voice that quite simply commands authority, "we will not take too much time out of your training today, but we do wish to discuss the topic of the new training regime. It came to our attention that there were inherent flaws in the previous scheme of allowing students to train whenever and with whoever, as one student was badly injured in an incident during their training. It is for this reason that we have decided to update our regime. From now on, Mondays and Fridays will be the days that you train in your specific age and gender groups, Tuesdays and Thursdays as, shall we say, academic days, and Wednesdays as personal training days. That is, training with whoever you like. Sundays are still closed days, but on Saturdays you can still come in and train for however long you wish. On Monday and Friday afternoons after lunch there will be small fights for everyone to watch and the fights will be within the training groups."

He dismisses us and we go to the trainers we're directed to go to. I walk over to a young woman with a crowd of ten-year-old girls around her. I'm the last one to arrive, but I don't stand right in the crowd, but hover a couple of metres away. All of these girls look like they've never done any work in their lives and I could beat all of them easily. I glance over at Clove and her trainer and see her looking at her group the same way. Her trainer is a young man, but he doesn't look like anything special. I turn back to my group and the trainer introduces herself as Frieda, then walks us over to an empty spot in the room and tells us to sit in a circle on the floor.

"Now I want you all to tell us your names and something about yourselves, OK?" she asks.

I let everyone else talk and hope she forgets about me. All the other girls are saying things like their favourite colour or food or anything as ridiculous as that, but there's no way that I'm going to say anything that soft. No, if I have to say anything, it's going to be something that'll shock them all. I just don't know what yet. While I'm thinking of something to say, I notice that the group has fallen silent and are al looking at me.

"What?" I bark impatiently.

"Aren't you going to introduce yourself?" Frieda asks.

I glance over at Clove, and she nods at me with a mischievous grin on her face. I put a devilish smirk on mine and turn back to my group.

"Well I wasn't really planning on it."

They all start staring at me, so I decide to say something.

"I'm Saskia, my older sister is Clove and I'm here because I want to kill and become a Victor."

It has the desired effect, as all the girls squeal and turn away. I look at Clove and she's doubled over in laughter, and I can't get the smirk off my face.

"Well," Frieda says nervously, "we certainly have a very… diverse group of students here."

She stands and starts walking us up the stairs to the gym. She tells us to do some running on the track to start with. She walks off and I snort at her stupidity. All the other girls go over to the short sprint track and jog up and down it, but that's just stupid. I sit down and stretch myself to warm up, then walk to the big loop track where I see Clove and her group, who are all running laps. I stand at the side and wait for Clove to come around, then jump in next to her and jog beside her, keeping up to her pace. I notice that she's leading the group, then she quickly speeds up, daring me to catch up with her. I lengthen my stride, making sure to keep a steady rhythm the whole time. We run a few laps like this, the pair of us overtaking people, Clove increasing her speed every couple of hundred metres until we're nearly sprinting. I hear an angry screech and turn to see Frieda fuming, standing at the edge of the track. I turn back around and notice that Clove has taken off at a full sprint, so I chase after her and catch up within a few seconds. We have another few hundred metres left before we reach my livid trainer, and it doesn't take us too long before she's standing right in front of us. We walk off the track, Clove standing protectively in front of me like so many times before. At least this time neither of us are in any real danger. Clove mutters something to her and takes me over to the rest of my group, before returning to her own after patting my shoulder firmly. Frieda keeps giving us the most basic exercises that I complete with ease, but leave the other girls dripping in sweat and complaining. I keep thinking about Wednesday and Clove training me properly and pushing me to my absolute limits instead of this pathetic excuse for a trainer.

We keep going until the lunch bell rings and I run off and put my tracksuit back on to keep my body warm then go back up and pile a plate with food and go and sit with Clove and the others. We talk about training, and they all seem satisfied with their groups and trainers, then they ask me about mine.

"It's absolute bullshit what they're making me do!" I say indignantly.

"I know!" Clove exclaims, "she was keeping up with me at the top of my group, and then she had to go back to her own!"

"I can't wait until Wednesday when I actually get trained." I say firmly, looking up at my sister.

"You do know that I'm going to push you way past your limits on Wednesdays, don't you?" Clove asks me in concern.

"I can't wait for it!"

The bell for the end of lunch rings throughout the building and everyone files out of the dining hall and into the training hall for the fights. We sit around the arena that Clove and I fought in awaiting the draw of the names. The ten-year-old girls are drawn first, and it's some wimp called Sonya against me. I shrug and go to the change rooms to take off my tracksuit. When I return, I see Sonya crying in a corner mumbling stuff about it being unfair that she has to fight me. I run over to the wall and spring into the air, spinning as I go so my chest faces the ground and kick off the wall, sail through the air and dive over the ropes into the arena and tumble into a forward roll and spring off my feet again and land back on the ground perfectly upright. The watching crowd applauds, and I decide to make this fight very showy. It's not like Sonya's going to beat me; she's scared of her own shadow. She's only here because it's District 2's law. The other trainer blows the whistle and I stand where I am, raising my hand, palm up, curling my fingers and unfurling them, inviting Sonya to try and attack me. She timidly walks over and throws a flabby punch at my face. I grab her wrist and twist it into a wrist roll that Clove taught me. I think it's number 2, and I push her down until I'm on my knees, and I rest one in the middle of her back. She lays still on the ground, but she isn't unconscious just yet. I get off her and wait for her to stand up. When she does, I leap into the air and spin 180°, my foot lashing out behind me, hitting her square in the stomach. She reels back until she finds herself backed into a corner against the ropes.

"Please," she says softly, almost inaudible, "please don't hurt me."

"Don't worry," I say back, projecting my voice so the whole crowd hears, "this won't hurt. Much."

I draw back my fist, taking in the shock on her face. I smirk and thrust my fist forwards and slam it into her face. She crumples and falls with a sickening thud on the ground. She doesn't get up, so I sling her over my shoulder and take her up to the doctor and dump her on an empty bench. I walk back down the stairs to thunderous applause and whistling. I take an overly theatrical bow and sit back down with Clove, having proven my point to my idiot of a trainer. There aren't any more interesting fights, so I don't take much notice, just think of how stupid my that Frieda is.

Just waiting to show the world what I can do.


	20. Chapter 20

"Harder!" Frieda yells at me. "That won't do anything to an opponent!"

I know I'm only throwing half-hearted punches, but they're still harder than all the other girls' attempts and they don't get yelled at. I even have perfect technique unlike them. I throw another punch, but she shoves me to the ground with the bag. That's it, she's crossed the line. Frieda must really hate me, so I think it's time to show her a lesson. I leap into the air, hands raised, knees tucked into my chest, spinning, and lash out behind me with all the force I possess. My foot makes contact with the bag but still has room to move. I keep pushing, sending her flying into the wall. I land softly on the ground, bending my knees to make the least noise possible. I turn and see her against the wall, struggling to stand. That'll teach her to mess with me. When she finally does stand, she starts walking towards me with vengeance written all over her face. Everyone's stopped and stared at me; no-one's ever deliberately attacked a trainer before. Not that she really counts as one, but still. She comes back towards me without the bag, having thrown it on the ground in frustration. She runs at me with her fist drawn back, and I think I crossed a line too. She throws a punch at my face and I dodge it easily, countering with an uppercut, sending her reeling back. By the look in her eye, she's out to kill, and I can't stop her without any weapons. I look behind me, but it's just a plain wall and there aren't any weapons anywhere near me.

"Sas!" Clove yells urgently, tossing me a knife.

I catch it by the handle and throw it at Frieda, pinning the bottom of her jacket to the wall. The rest of the trainers rush over and hold her back, stopping her from attacking me again. She looks absolutely deranged, but I can't tear my eyes away from her. Clove comes and stands on my right, and Cato on my left, shielding me from my crazed trainer. The bell rings for the end of training, and Cato walks away, leaving Clove and I standing alone. He hasn't been the same since our mishap at training last month. Clove tugs on my arm and pulls me into the change rooms, clearly frustrated with me. We grab our bags and go back to our room in silence. We throw our bags down next to our beds, and I go to get some clothes out of my wardrobe, but find myself shoved against the wall by Clove.

"Never do that again," she hisses. "You'll only draw attention to yourself, and we don't want that."

I nod furiously, understanding her concern. If I draw too much attention our parents could hear about it.

She lets go of me and we get changed before heading down to the common room. I slip on some grey sweatshorts, an aqua sweatshirt with a white print on the front and some black slip-on canvas shoes, because I can't really be bothered with anything else. I can't be bothered doing my hair either, so I just leave it out. We don't have work today since it's the night before the reaping, so we have a free afternoon. We go down to the dining hall briefly to grab a snack then head back up the stairs to go to the common room. I much on my apple as we go, and think about how Clove wasn't picked for the Games this year. That was announced a couple of weeks ago, ands the trainers picked an 18 year old girl called Amy, who happens to be one of Clove's friends. She didn't look thrilled when she was chosen, but she could have just been shocked at their choice. I didn't hear the boy though, so I guess I'll just find out tomorrow. We saunter into the common room where I flop down into a purple beanbag and join in the conversation that's already started.

"Amy's physically prepared for this, but not mentally," Satari says. "She won't be able to cope in there."

"She's an excellent fighter, but she won't hurt anyone," Gizella says. "She'll try and survive, but just end up getting killed"

"I just feel sorry for her." Kalia says quietly. "Someone has to do something about this!"

"But what can we do Kalia?" Clove says in exasperation. "She's been picked and we can't do anything about it."

"But surely you could do something?" I say quizzically. "Override their decision or something."

"That's the thing Sas," Clove says to me angrily. "We can't override their decision. If we argue with them we get thrown out."

"You don't think they'd throw me out do you? After what I did to Frieda?"

"Don't worry about it," Gizella says. "You were provoked and she deserved it."

"She treated you so badly," Kalia says indignantly. "You were so much better than all of those other girls, yet she treated you like you couldn't do anything!"

"I heard she was already on her way out," Satari tells us. "They noticed her treatment of you especially and the other girls when she didn't get her own way."

"Speaking of heading out, Satari," Clove says quickly. "You turn nineteen in a few days. What are you going to do after you leave?"

"Funny you should mention that Clove," she says with a mischievous glint in her eye. "The trainers have actually recommended that I apply for a role as a trainer here!"

Squeals emanate from our little gathering as we realise what she's saying: we might still be seeing her around here.

We all rush to her and hug her, squealing words of congratulation. When it finally dies down, a thought pops into my mind.

"If you were accepted, you wouldn't be training my group, would you?"

"Yes Saskia, I would. And I would make sure I stayed with you, because I'm the only trainer that actually understands you. Everyone else just underestimates you, and you wouldn't reach your full potential."

I smile at her words and hug her again. Having Satari as my trainer would be brilliant, second only to Clove. We keep chatting like this, discussing the upcoming Games, until the bell rings for the meeting. We walk down to the meeting room, and the boarding house master tells us all what to do tomorrow, and reminds us that we don't need to wear our uniforms, just nice clothes. He dismisses us and we walk into the dining hall, recite the oath, and pile our plates with our tea of lasagne. The cook must be feeling generous because of the imminent threat of the reaping. I manage to eat two pieces before taking my plate and cutlery to the wash buckets, and then sit back, feeling the warmth of the food spread through my body. Dessert is laid on the table, and it's fruit salad and cream. I have a bowl of that then declare myself full and take my bowl to the wash buckets, then return to my room. I find some pyjamas and a towel and go to the showers, only taking a couple of minutes, then return to my room. I toss my clothes into the washing bin and go down to the common room where I collapse into my favourite beanbag. The others come in a few minutes later and join me. They turn the TV on, and a title screen appears, showing that we're watching the 50th Hunger Games. I've never seen a Quarter Quell before, but I heard that this one was really controversial. I settle further into the beanbag and watch the killing begin. When it's all over, we go to bed, preparing for the reaping tomorrow.

I wake up to the sun shining through a gap in the curtain, right into my eye. I sit up and stretch and glance over at Clove. She's still asleep and has a strand of hair hanging down over her face. I gently put it back in place, and her eyes flutter as she slowly wakes up.

"Sorry," I say quietly. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"That's OK, I needed to get up anyway."

We get out of bed and just throw on what we wore yesterday afternoon since the reaping isn't until mid-afternoon. We go down to the dining hall and grab a plate of scrambled eggs on toast and join our friends at a table. We sit in silence for a while, but conversation slowly starts up. I don't really listen, just focus on my breakfast. When we finish, we don't do much, just hang around in the common room and talk. When it's time to get ready, we head back to our rooms, where Clove lays out a dress for me. It's pretty, a bit shorter than knee-length, with blue and white horizontal stripes, thin straps and wooden buttons on the front. It has a dark blue tie with white stitches along it and a hidden pocket on the inside of the skirt, and she gives me a pair of white ballet flats to wear too. I look over at her dress and gasp in amazement. She has a fitted red satin knee-length dress with black lace up the side that's studded with tiny fake diamonds, and is too beautiful for words and pretty black shiny ballet flats. We put on our dresses and shoes and Clove does her hair, before fixing mine with a gentle touch. She walks out the door expecting me to follow, but I hesitate, before grabbing something out of my drawer. I look at the small item in my hands: a rock I found while working last week. It's a shiny green colour that sparkles in the sun. Over the past week I've chiselled it into the shape of a heart, and the finished product looks quite pretty. I slip it into the hidden pocket at the same moment that Clove pokes her head through the door.

"Coming?" she asks somewhat impatiently.

I smooth my skirt and walk out the door, shutting it behind me, and walk with Clove and the others out the massive doors of the Academy.

Just praying that nothing bad happens today.


	21. Chapter 21

We soon reach the centre of town, where Clove hugs me one last time, telling me everything will be fine, before lining up in front of the Peacekeepers for registration. I stop and look around for Satari's family, since Clove told me to stay with them during the reaping. Satari told me to look for her little sister, because she looks just like her. I soon see the familiar face, just younger looking. I've seen her in training before; she's alright, but she never looks like she wants to be there. I walk over to them and shake hands with her parents, and Satari's little sister gives me a quick hug. She's only a year older than me, but she's already so much more mature than me. But I've seen a lot more than her; things a ten-year-old shouldn't see; things that mess up a kid. You can see it in my eyes, I've been told. You can see that something's happened, something that's damaged me beyond repair, something that I can never come back from.

"Hi Saskia, I'm Nalee, Satari's sister," she says, smiling gently.

"Hi Nalee," I reply, managing a small smile.

Nalee puts her arm around my shoulders. She's almost as tall as Clove, but then again, Clove is small for her age. We walk over to our area, just behind the ropes separating us from our loved ones, and Nalee holds my hand. It comforts me, knowing that there's someone here caring for me. We stand silently as the District 2 escort steps up onto the stage. Her voice is just annoying, there's no other word for it. I don't really listen to the words, don't really watch the film, just try and keep myself calm. Clove said everything would be fine, but, for some reason, I don't believe her. All too soon it's time for the unlucky girl to sign her life away. Her hand reaches into the bowl and pulls out a single piece of paper. She walks back to the microphone and speaks.

"Amy Mavarich!" she says, voice laced with excitement.

I breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that this is the Amy that was supposed to volunteer. I look at her face, and see that she's trying to look calm, but her eyes are giving away the fear that she's really feeling. I still feel relieved, until I hear a familiar voice.

"I volunteer!" she cries in what sounds like desperation.

My eyes scan the crowd until I see Clove stepping out to the Peacekeepers. Amy looks shocked, and I know I must look the same. I feel Nalee tighten her grip on my wrist, but I'm too strong for her. I wrench myself out of her grip and duck under the rope and run straight for Clove. I wrap my arms tightly around her waist, even though I know it's no use.

"No Clove! You can't go!" I cry.

"Saskia, go back to Nalee. Now," she replies in a steely voice.

"Please! Don't go!"

"Let go Saskia!" she says, pushing me away.

I take a step towards her, but am only rewarded with her hand on my face. I shrink back, clutching my face in pain and look at her apologetically. She looks back at me with a hard determination in her eyes. I feel arms grabbing my shoulders in a vice-like grip and dragging me back under the ropes and I can only assume it's Nalee. Tears silently stream down my face as she holds me, my head resting on her chest. I did always think that she was the more mature out of the two of us.

Clove has stepped up onto the stage and said her name; like anyone in the District didn't know her already. Everyone here knew her, but no-one thought she could actually win. She's only up there to prove everyone in the District wrong, especially our parents. Over the years she's developed her hard shell, blocking out all the criticism people have thrown at her. She respects that of her trainers, but not from people in the street that have nothing to do with her training. The escort goes over to the boys' bowl and takes a slip and returns to the microphone. Before she's even finished the first name, the predictable shout comes from the crowd.

"I volunteer!"

I can only watch as the imposing figure of Cato strides up to the stage, but it's no surprise that he volunteered. He looks a lot more confident than Clove, but his parents are both Victors. They were in love before his father volunteered. He came back, and the next year, his mother volunteered, coming back as well. A few years later they had a son, Cato's older brother, Leroy. He volunteered and came back too, so now it's Cato's turn. I've heard that his father's District token has been worn by all of them when they competed. I think it was a wrist cuff. He says his name, even though everyone knows him anyway. They think he can win though; that's the important difference between them. Clove and Cato shake hands and step into the Justice Building. We're dismissed by the Mayor, and I go straight to the Justice Building. Gizella, Kalia, Satari and Nalee are all outside Clove's door, and Cato's parents and brother are outside his. I don't know who to go to first, but Cato's family steps back, letting me go first. I smile at them, and Cato's father claps me on the back. I've always respected him, and he understood our situation. Their whole family did, but Cato's father actually went over to our house and spoke to our parents. It didn't make our situation any better, but he tried all the same. I haul the door open, step in, and shut the door behind me.

"You OK tiny?" Cato asks me. "You look like you've been crying."

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"She'll make it out, Sas. Trust me."

I walk over to him and he picks me up. I'm still a little scared of him, but I've started to trust him a bit more now. He walks over to the bench and sits down, setting me down on his lap. I turn to face his striking blue eyes, and they look gentle.

"She will be fine Sas."

"But what if it comes down to you and her?"

"I couldn't bear it if anything happened to her," he says softly. "Keep this between you and me OK Sas?"

"OK."

"Well," he begins awkwardly, "if it comes down to just Clove and I, I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure she comes back to you."

"But your family!"

"I'm not going to tell them. They wouldn't understand. She can beat me. If she makes the first move, she'll win, and that's what I'm going to let her do."

"If that's what you really want," I say carefully, "then thankyou." I smile at him, and he smiles back.

"You should probably go see Clove now."

"Yeah."

"Go on. She'll be wondering where you are."

"So I guess this is the last time I'll be seeing you then."

"Yes. I'm sorry."

He grabs me in a massive bear hug, and I wrap my arms around him as far as I can reach. We stay like this for a minute until he sets me down on my feet gently. He ruffles my hair, and I turn and walk out. Just before I reach the door, I turn and face him again.

"Goodbye Cato."

"Goodbye Sas."

I open the door and walk out, and Cato's family go in to him, shutting the door behind them. I hear a noise and look at Clove's door, and see that the girls have finished. They see me and let me pass, saying quietly that they'll wait for me. I hear the words, but don't really listen to them. I go in and shut the door, running straight for Clove. She wraps her arms around me, holding me close, and the tears I've been holding back make their escape. My body is racked with sobs, but she just holds me tighter. She picks me up, just like Cato, and carries me over to the bench. She sits me on her lap and just holds me, not saying anything. She doesn't need to.

When I finally speak, my words are thick with tears.

"Why? Why did you volunteer?"

"I don't know Sas. I really don't know."

"To prove yourself?"

"That might have been a part of it, but mostly I knew that Amy wouldn't be able to do it. You saw her face. She was terrified."

I nod, not wanting to speak.

"I will come back Sas, I promise I'll come back."

'I believe you," I say quietly.

The door bangs open and we snap up, me jumping off Clove lap.

"Your time is up," the Head Peacekeeper says.

I turn back to Clove, and she embraces me for the last time until she comes back. It's not definite, but I'm sure she will. I reach into the pocket in my dress and pull out the stone.

"Take this, please," I tell her quietly.

She takes it and puts it in her pocket, then hugs me again.

"Go Sas, I'll see you again soon."

The Peacekeepers grab my arms, but I shrug out of their grip and walk out on my own.

"I love you Sas," Clove says softly, smiling at me gently.

"I love you too Clove," I say in the same voice, with the same smile.

We really are alike.


	22. Chapter 22

I walk silently out of the room, turning back for one last look at Clove before the doors are slammed shut. They must take her out the back door, so I guess I'll just have to watch her through a screen. I go over to Gizella, Kalia, Satari and Nalee, and notice that Gizella and Kalia have been crying. Satari stands in between them with her arms around their shoulders, and Nalee stands a couple of metres away from them. When she sees me she comes over to me and hugs me, then lets go and puts her arm around my shoulders like Satari. We walk out of the Justice Building and start heading back to the Academy. Since Clove's gone, I have the room to myself. We walk silently until we reach the doors, and we all go in. Satari goes to her room and grabs her bags, seeing as she's going home. By the time the Games are over and training starts again, she'll have turned 19 and taken her test to see if she's ready to be a trainer here. If she passes, she'll be my trainer, if not, then I have no idea. We trudge up the stairs, and I think about Clove's choice. I think about Cato's too. I just wish that both of them could come home. As we walk, I realise that Satari hadn't really been crying like the others, even though she was Clove's friend. I decide to talk to her in private when I get the chance. We reach their room and we all go into our separate rooms to get changed. Nalee comes into my room and sits on my bed while I get changed, but we don't talk. I slip on a black muscle shirt and some olive cargo shorts, and my black canvas shoes. We go back outside and wait for the others, and they come out less than a minute later. Pretty soon we're all hugging Satari, wishing her good luck, and she's saying that she'll come over and watch the Games with us, and she'll bring Nalee too, and then she's about to leave. She starts walking towards the stairs, and I know I'm not going to have another chance to talk to her, so I decide to act.

"Satari?" I say quietly.

She turns around to look at me. "What is it, Sas?" she asks gently.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" I lay eyes on Nalee for a second. "In private?"

"Sure," she says. She whispers something to Nalee, and she takes her bag and goes back to the others. Satari lays a hand on my shoulder and we walk down the stairs together.

She walks me into a plain room, with just a desk and two chairs. There's nothing on the plain, grey concrete walls except a small window that faces the door, and the concrete floor's the same depressing shade of grey. She sits down in the chair on the far side, in front of the window, and gestures for me to sit in the other chair opposite. I sit down and we look at each other for a few seconds. I'm the first to look away, and then she speaks.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" she asks seriously.

"You…," I start hesitantly, "..you weren't crying after you saw Clove, and yet you're her friend. Were you just being strong for the others?" I hesitate again. "Or do you know something about my sister that I don't?"

She sighs. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice that. But she's trained you well. You don't miss any details, do you?" I don't answer. "Well, to put it simply, I do know something that you don't. I knew Clove was going to volunteer. The others didn't, and I was the only person she told."

"Why didn't she tell me?" I ask in a despairing voice.

"Because she didn't want you to worry. And I want to ask you something too." I shift uneasily in my seat. "When you came out of Cato's room, you looked like you knew something that we didn't. And I want you to tell me what," she says in a steely voice that I've never heard her use with me before. I start getting a little scared.

"He didn't want me to tell anyone," I say in a slightly quivering voice.

"I don't care," she says coldly, her voice slowly rising. "I want you to tell me."

"He didn't want me to tell anyone," I repeat, trying to make my voice sound stronger. Satari looks slightly taken aback. I don't think she expected any resistance from me.

She stands up and puts her hands on the table on either side of me and leans over slightly, looking me in the eye. "I said, tell me," she snarls.

I stand too, but put my right foot back a bit and rest my weight on it, distancing myself from her a bit. I fold my arms over my chest in a protective action as well. I know she isn't going to hurt me like Clove probably would, she's just going to try and intimidate me. And it's already working. She straightens up and walks slowly towards me. I don't move until she's about a metre away from me, then I take a step back. She keeps advancing until I find myself with my back against the wall. I try and go along the wall, but she follows me closely, and I end up backed into the corner. She puts one hand on either wall and leans over me, looking down at me. She's tall, nearly six foot, nearly Cato's height, but a lot less bulky. She's lean, but still well-muscled; her strength's just not overly visible until you actually see her fighting.

"Saskia," she snarls. "Tell me what you know."

"No."

She grabs me by the shoulders and lifts me into the air easily. She slams me against the wall, and I can tell that she's really trying not to hurt me, just intimidate me. She holds me about two feet in the air just so she can look me in the eye, and I'm shaking in fear.

"Tell me Saskia."

"OK, OK, just put me down!" I plead.

"Not until you tell me."

"Fine," I say, sighing in defeat. "Cato told me that if it comes down to the two of them…" I hesitate. "He's going to let her win."

She looks shocked, then speaks. "But his family. Do they know?"

"No. I'm the only person he told. The only person he wanted to know." I look pointedly at her.

She doesn't say anything, but looks as though she's thinking hard. My back and shoulders are starting to ache, and she hasn't noticed yet.

"Um… Satari?" I say, looking at her hands.

"Oh, sorry," she says sheepishly, setting me down gently. "I just needed to know."

"Why?"

"I just did. Trust me."

I nod, and she lays her hand gently on my shoulder. "Let's go back up Sas, the others will be wondering what we're doing."

"OK."

We walk back up the stairs, and the others look as we return, but don't say anything. They hug Satari, and then she hugs me, and whispers in my ear.

"Be safe, Sas. Promise me you won't do anything stupid."

"I won't, Satari," I whisper back. "I won't"

She lets go of me, and Nalee steps forward and hugs me. We only met today, but we're already friends. After they leave, Gizella, Kalia and I go to the common room, and the boarders that are still there comfort me, telling me they're sorry about what happened with Clove. Pretty soon it's time to go down for meeting, and after they've taken attendance we sit, and are told that they have some news for us.

"This may come as a shock to you, but there has been a change of routine for the Games this year. Normally you would stay here during the Games with the option of going home, but we have decided that now, you must go home to be with your families during this time."

I don't want to go back to my family. This is why I came here; to get away from them. But the boarding house master continues.

"You must be gone before the tribute parade, which is happening tomorrow night. You may begin returning once the Victor is crowned. Training will begin the day after the Victor is crowned. That is all, you are dismissed."

We file out into the dining hall and find a table, reciting the oath as we do before every meal, then sit down and eat; tonight we have a chicken casserole. I eat quickly then go up to my room and grab some check shorts, a t-shirt and my towel and go to the showers. I don't stay in there long, just long enough for me to wash myself, then I dry off and slip into my pyjamas. I go back to my room and toss my clothes on the floor, then go to the common room and flop into my favourite beanbag, and bury my head in my hands and cry.

I know a Career shouldn't cry, but sometimes you just have to let it all out.


	23. Chapter 23

I hear the sound of shuffling feet and quiet whispers as the others walk in. The noise stops for a second, and I think they've seen me. I don't care though. They must have come to a decision though, because they start talking in hushed tones again, loud enough for me to distinguish who's there, but soft enough that I can't hear what they're saying. After a few minutes, I hear two new voices enter the room, and I strain my ears to try and figure out who it is. I think it's Satari and Nalee, but I can't be too sure. I hear someone moving towards me before they stop, then turn around, going back to the others. I think it's Nalee, judging by how light they sound on their feet, but she must have decided not to disturb me. My head is still in my hands, and I'm still crying. If Clove was here, she'd be marching over to me and telling me to be strong. I can almost hear her in my head, telling me not to give up. I hear someone mention the word 'Reaping', and I raise my head slightly, and the room falls silent. So silent, in fact, that I swear I can almost hear the fabric of peoples clothes rustling as they turn to look at me. I raise my head to look at them, and realise that all the girls that board are here in this room. As I suspected, they're all looking at me, as if for my permission to turn it on. The atmosphere seems tense, and I have a suspicion that once I acknowledge them, this heavy cloud that seems to be hovering over me will lift. I nod once, slightly, and already I feel like everyone is less tense. Nalee slowly walks over and sits down next to me and an older girl whose name I can't remember goes to turn on the TV. A couple of ridiculous Capitol advertisements play, then the excited voices of Caesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith blast from the speakers. I ignore them until I hear the annoying accent of a Capitol woman, then I watch the screen.

The Capitol woman picks a name from the Reaping bowl and reads it out, before we hear the familiar cry of 'I volunteer' from the crowd. The camera zooms in on a tall, flawless, blonde-haired girl. Once she reaches the stage, she says her name is Glimmer Simanson. As she speaks, she idly twirls a lock of hair around her finger, and it looks like she's flirting with the camera as she waits. The Capitol will surely love her, and she'll get plenty of sponsors, especially from the men. The boys are reaped and a boy called Marvel Krindon is called. He steps up onto the stage and we get a good look at him. He isn't anything special, sure he looks well built, not that good-looking, but Cato could snap his neck in a second and get more sponsors than him. I hear the voice of the District 2 escort and force myself to keep watching the screen. I hear her call Amy's name and tears start welling in my eyes as the memories flood back. I blink back the tears as Clove yells and I watch myself throw myself on her, begging her to change her mind. I see her hit me, and the camera zooms in on her face. She looks strong, but there's something in her eyes that says she's pleading with me more desperately than ever that I've never seen before. I look down then, not wanting to see the rest. I hear Cato's voice from the crowd a few seconds later, then before they play the Reapings from 3, Caesar and Claudius do a review of the Reaping. They make a couple of comments on Cato, then they move onto Clove. I hear my name and my head snaps up to look at the screen in confusion. Clove's the one that got reaped, so why are they saying my name?

"We've heard that the little girl's name is Saskia folks, and she's the younger sister of District 2's female tribute, Clove," Caesar says. "She's ten years old and quite the feisty young girl, so we've heard. But you have to admit Claudius; her behaviour at the reaping is very unlike the general attitude of District 2."

"Yes, I agree with you there Caesar. Surely she would have been taught differently?" Claudius states.

"But family is a very strong and complex thing people. It brings out the best, and worst, in all of us."

I clench my fists in anger at their comments. How dare they speak about me like that! Nalee wraps her hands around my fists and holds them tightly, not saying a word as they move into the District 3 Reapings. I don't really pay attention now; I'm too focussed on keeping a level head. I watch, but I take nothing in. I take a little notice of the reapings in 11, with the tiny little girl and the massive boy that looks like he's about the size of Cato. The reapings in 12 come on, and I don't take much notice until I hear everyone in the room gasp.

"I volunteer! I volunteer!" a voice shrieks. "I volunteer as tribute!"

I watch as a dark-haired girl runs towards the little blonde girl that was reaped, hugging her protectively. The little girl's screaming for her to stay, until a strong looking boy with dark hair goes over to them, shrugging off a couple of Peacekeepers as he goes, and picks the little girl up and slings her over his shoulder, carrying her back to the rest of the crowd. The dark-haired girl walks quickly onto the stage, and says her name is Katniss Everdeen. The boy is chosen, and a blonde-haired boy walks up and shakes hands with the girl, and they walk off. I stop listening when Caesar comes back on air. The anthem plays to signal the end of the programming, and I wordlessly stand and walk out of the room. Nalee doesn't try to stop me, and neither does anyone else. I go straight to my room and get into bed, turning the light off as I go. It's my first night without Clove, and it feels strange to not be able to hear her steady breathing next to me. Then I start thinking. I start thinking about what I'm going to do come tomorrow night. I have nowhere to go, and I can't go home. We learnt about honour killings in our lesson on Thursday. It's where if you do something to disgrace your family, even if it's just a rumour, they'll kill you as punishment for bringing shame to the family. It happened a long time ago but I still wouldn't put it past my parents to do it now.

I hear the door open and a ray of light appears on the floor with a shadow standing in the middle of it. I roll over and look at the door and see Satari standing in the doorway as if she wants to come in. She walks in and sits on the bed next to me and strokes my hair.

"I heard about the deal with you having to go home for the Games," she says quietly.

"I don't want to go," I say, holding back tears as the thought of seeing my parents takes over me.

"I don't want you to go either," she says grimly. "It's not safe for you there. Clove can't protect you now, and I can't protect you there."

"But I have to go, that's what we've been told, and there aren't any exceptions."

"You didn't see the loophole though. He didn't specify what sort of family. I've talked to my parents and Nalee about this, and, if it's alright with you, if Clove doesn't come back, we-we'd like to adopt you. There's a very good chance that she'll come back, but if something goes wrong and she can't, we want you to a part of our family. And if she comes back you can stay here. But you can still come to our house for the Games."

"I'd like that," I say softly. "I'd like that a lot."

"I'll tell Nalee and my parents then; they're going to be really excited about this. But I should let you get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

She kisses my forehead just like Clove would, and then walks quietly out the door, gently shutting it behind her.

I roll back over to where I was before and look out of the gap between the curtains at the stars. I know that somewhere else, Clove is looking at these same stars, and the thought of it brings tears to my eyes. I blink them back and sob softly into my pillow, wetting the cover with my tears. I wake to sunlight beaming through my open curtains, but I always shut them of a night. I sit up and see Nalee sitting in the chair in the corner of the room.

"Morning," she says softly. "I've been waiting for you. You have to be gone by lunchtime today, so pack a bag this morning. You just need clothes and anything personal. We've got blankets and stuff for you."

"Thanks Nalee. Your family's been so kind to me, but this is just something else."

"We're glad to help out Sas. We hate it when bad stuff happens to you two and we want to do all we can to help you out."

"Thanks."

"It's OK. Come on; you'd better get out of bed and get ready."

So I slide out from under the covers and smile at the smallest person to change my life.


	24. Chapter 24

I get up and change quickly, strapping Clove's knife to my waist, and start to pack my rucksack. I put in some clothes and my teddy and a couple of pairs of shoes, plus some other little things I need. Nalee stands quietly in the corner just watching me as I gather my things. Once my rucksack's full, I straighten up and look at Nalee. She glances from me to my bag and back again, checking that I'm ready, and I nod, taking one last look around the room and slinging my bag over my back. Nalee walks out the door and I follow a few steps behind her, a little subdued. We go to the room next door to get Satari, who's talking to Gizella and Kalia. I get warm hugs from them all, and then our group of five signs out for the Games. Satari isn't taking all of her clothes and stuff out of the boarding house yet, but she's taking a fair bit of it now even though she's coming back after the Games to grab it all. We walk down the street and notice the screens being set up in the square to broadcast the Games. There are a couple of men on top of the Justice Building hanging posters of Clove and Cato from the roof; Cato's is already hung, and Clove's is about to be unfurled. We all stand still to watch and Satari walks over to me and lays a hand on my shoulder, gripping it tightly as we all drop our bags on the ground to watch. The men let the poster drop and my mouth opens slightly as I see her. It's a glorious full-body picture of her that must have been taken once she got to the Capitol. She's wearing a tight black tank-top, three quarter length black tights and running shoes. Her hair's been done in its usual high ponytail, her arms crossed over her chest, and somehow they managed to put some makeup on her face. It's subtle, and she looks so fierce and confident. Cato's picture is pretty much the same, except he's wearing shorts instead of tights. None of us say a word, just look on for a few moments.

"Cato's going to win for sure," mutters someone walking past, snapping me out of my train of thought.

"It'd just be easier if he killed Clove at the start," someone else says abnormally loudly. "She's going to make it into the final few just because she's a Career, not because she has any skill."

"You got that right," another guy says, snickering.

I spin on my heel, shrugging off Satari's hand to look at whoever made that comment. I see the culprit; a guy called Sam, who's the same age as Clove and he's always given her crap for being small. He treats me the same way too.

"Samuel!" I yell, glaring at him until he turns.

He looks surprised for a second, then a mask of malice washing over his face. "Ah, Saskia," he sneers. "Come to see your sister before she dies?"

"Don't concern yourself in matters that you have no business butting into Sam," I growl, my glare never fading, only growing.

"And what, exactly, are you going to do about it pipsqueak?" he says, walking over to me to look down on me.

"This," I say, before punching him square in the nose. I feel the crunch and the blood starts dripping out.

He wipes his nose gingerly with his sleeve and turns back to me. "I can do that too you little shit," he says loudly, almost yelling, and he punches me, although not quite in the nose. He gets me at the top of my cheekbone, just under my left eye. I feel the skin split and the blood start to trickle down my face. I gently wipe my hand over it to get rid of some of the blood, and I wince as I touch it too hard, and Sam laughs at me, which only increases my rage. I stand up and whip my knife out of its sheath pointing it directly at his throat as I advance on him. He stumbles backwards as I march towards him, knife still raised. He reaches the wall and I hold the tip of the knife to his throat, taking in his fear before I speak.

"Let me tell you something Samuel," I hiss. "Something you should never forget. My sister has skill. A lot more than you and that's a fact. She could take you on any day, and she'd beat you every day."

"So what?" he says breathlessly. "She's not here to protect you now."

"So why are so you scared of me then, huh?"

"You look like her," he gasps, hands scrabbling against the wall for anything. It makes me smirk, and I press the blade harder against his throat.

"She also taught me everything I know, so you fight me, you fight her. Got it?"

He nods furiously, and I take the knife from his throat with a quick swipe, tiny beads of blood appearing in its wake. He trips as he runs from me, and I laugh while I put my knife back in its sheath. I walk back to the others and pick up my bag without saying a word. We start walking again, but I still hear snide comments about Clove from other people, but I don't react; I've drawn enough attention to myself as it is.

We reach Kalia's house and say goodbye to her, and then go a few doors down to drop off Gizella. We keep walking for about another ten minutes before we reach Nalee and Satari's house. We walk inside and are greeted by their parents. I met them at the Reaping, and remember them being very welcoming towards me, and the same happens now. I receive a firm handshake from their father and a gentle hug from their mother, something that I've never had. I notice their parents murmur something to Satari, and she nods. I'm assuming they're asking about the blood on my face. Satari finishes and we go upstairs to our bedrooms, and I find that Nalee and Satari have separate rooms, and they've set up a mattress in Nalee's room for me. We all take our bags to our own rooms, and Satari comes in a couple of minutes later and leans against the doorway.

"Come on Sas," she says. "We'd better patch you up; our parents were a bit worried about you."

I nod, walking over to her, and she takes me to the bathroom, leaving Nalee in her bedroom. She turns into a doorway and I follow, and she turns to take a good look at my face.

"Sit down in that chair," she says, pointing at a wooden chair in the corner of the room.

I sit in the chair, and she gets a towel, a bottle of some sort of gel, and a roll of tape. She wets the towel and gently starts wiping my face. I wince as she reaches the bruise, but she keeps going. Once it's clean, she squeezes a bit of the gel onto her fingers and rubs it into the cut, and I gasp as it starts to sting. She stops and rubs her fingers clean on the towel and lets the gel dry. It still stings, and she rubs my knee gently, which somehow makes it feel a little better. Once it's dry, she puts a piece of tape over it and helps me stand.

"Why did you have to attack him?" she asks me.

I look up at her out of the corner of my eye. "You heard what he said about Clove," I say. "I couldn't just stand there and listen!"

"I know, but you didn't have to go so far," she says loudly.

"It's how I've been trained," I say coldly.

"Yes," she says quietly. "And that's exactly what I was afraid of."

"Why?" I say loudly. "Why does my training have anything to do with this?"

"Because she's trained you to be like this," she says, grabbing my shoulders. "She's trained you to be violent and not care about the pain you're causing others."

"But-"

"I don't mean that she hasn't trained you properly, I'm just trying to tell you that you need to learn to keep calm," she says with a trace of anger in her voice, looking at me right in the eye. "If you don't learn to calm down, you'll only cause trouble for yourself."

I feel so ashamed that I look down at my feet, scared to look at her face. "I'm sorry," I whisper.

Satari kneels down on one knee and gently lifts my face up to look at her. "Don't feel bad Sas, you just need to learn to control your anger. I can teach you. I will teach you."

I nod, and she hugs me tightly. "I didn't mean to Satari, honestly I didn't. I just kind of… lost control," I say a little sheepishly.

"It's alright Sas, I'll teach you, I promise."

I look up at her and for the first time notice that she has brown eyes. "Thankyou Satari," I say quietly.

"That's OK; we'll look after you here," she says while rubbing my arm gently. "Come on, we'd better go downstairs for lunch."

We walk out of the bathroom and I go back to Nalee's room to find her waiting in the doorway for me. Satari keeps walking, obviously leaving me to talk to her, and I know why as soon as I see her face. She isn't smiling, but isn't frowning either. She's more confused, and looks a bit angry, but I don't know why.

"What was the yelling about?" she asks in a monotonous tone.

"You heard that?"

"Yes, and I want to know what happened in there."

She doesn't sound overly angry, just a bit annoyed that she doesn't know what's going on, so I decide to answer her. "Satari's decided that I have a bit of a temper problem, and we've both decided to fix it."

"Is that all?"

"Yes."

"OK then, let's go down for lunch," she says, noticeably happier. I must have been right when I assumed that she just wanted to know what was going on.

She walks out the door, and I hesitate before following her. I think about what Satari said, and wonder how she's going to train me to control my anger. I know it's for the best though; Clove never taught me that, she just taught me how to fight, not how to keep calm.

"Are you coming or what?" Nalee says with a grin as she pokes her head back into the room.

I throw a grin right back at her, and start walking out the door, already smelling our lunch as I walk. Nalee throws an arm around my shoulder as we walk, and I do the same, and we both grin at each other and I can tell we're going to get along very well.

I think I've found where I belong right now.


	25. Chapter 25

After we finish lunch, we have nothing to do at all. I can't stop worrying about Clove, even though I know she'll be fine, and my nervousness is becoming more noticeable by the minute. I've helped clean up the kitchen after lunch, unpacked my stuff, and I've even played a couple of games with Nalee; but now there's nothing for me to do. Satari pokes her head around the doorframe to talk to us and clears her throat, making Nalee and I snap our heads up in confusion.

"There are still a couple of hours before they shut the Academy doors," she says. "Do you guys want to help me get the rest of my stuff out?"

"Well we've got nothing better to do," Nalee says as she stands up, clearly eager for something interesting to do.

"Well let's go then," Satari says. "We'll get Gizella and Kalia to come too."

"Fine by me," I say jubilantly, leaping to my feet and brushing myself off.

We all walk out the door, Satari calling out to her parents to let them know where we're going, and we're off within a minute of planning it.

We stop by Kalia and Gizella's houses and pick them up, then walk through the streets once more, me trying to ignore the abuse being hurled at me about Clove. I keep my head down, but there's still one person that finds me. Felix.

"What do you think you're doing showing your pathetic face around here?" he spits.

"I live here too Felix," I reply, voice shaking from the effort of keeping calm.

"Yeah," he counters, "but Clove doesn't any more. She's as good as dead now, and she's not here to protect you anymore."

"What of it?"

"She can't stop me from doing anything I want to do to you right now."

I look up at him hesitantly, and take half a step back as I see the malicious grin on his face. Satari moves to stand in front of me, Kalia and Gizella on either side of her, and Nalee moves to stand behind Satari as well, but still in front of me.

"Leave her alone Felix," Satari says boldly.

"Oh," he mocks, "the little baby can't look after herself, so she has to get the big girls to do it for her."

"Just give it a rest Felix," Satari says angrily. "She doesn't need this right now."

"I couldn't care less about what she needs," he sneers, stepping forwards.

"Leave her alone," Nalee says, pushing past her sister.

"And what's a little pipsqueak like you going to about it, huh?"

He picks her up by the collar and dangles her above the ground, sparking a strange protective instinct in me that I've never felt before.

"Put her down Felix," I yell, shoving Satari aside to get to my brother. "What's she ever done to you?"

He throws her on the ground and the girls rush to her, making sure she's alright, but Felix has turned to refocus his attention on me. "Well, long time no see little sis," he says, ruffling my hair, but grabbing it in the process, painfully pulling it. "What have you been up to, aside from sending our sister to her death?"

"That wasn't my fault," I say through gritted teeth. "It was her decision."

"And she didn't even tell you?"

"What she tells me is none of your business."

"Well clearly she just wanted to get away from you; everyone knows she's going to die in there."

"She loved me, and she still does!" I yell, tears starting to spring to my eyes. "She's the only person that's ever loved me!"

"She never loved you! Nobody ever did!" he yells.

Felix lifts me into the air and throws me to the ground. It's stone, and the impact knocks the wind out of me, and he kicks me in the stomach while I lay in my vulnerable position. I feel like I'm going to vomit, but I force that feeling back, and instead of feeling sick, I feel angry. I flip myself up onto my feet and advance on Felix, pulling out my knife once again.

"Don't you dare tell me about my life Felix," I yell, "because you were never a part of it!"

"I was always in your life," he yells back, "just like her."

"No, not just like her," I yell, the tears streaming out now. "She was always there for me; you were always there against me!" I'm shaking in rage, but the others aren't saying anything, obviously letting me release all my built-up anger.

"I'm still your family!" he yells back at me. "I always have been, and I always will be, whether you like it or not!"

I brandish the knife ferociously and he eyes it cautiously. "We left you to have our own family! Even if she dies, I will still have my own family, and you won't be part of it!"

"I was always part of your lives, but I never loved you or her!" he roars, shoving me backwards viciously. "I hate you both! If I never see either of you again, it'll be too soon!"

"Go then!" I scream. "Go and you never have to see me again!"

He doesn't say another word, just turns and leaves, but not before glaring at me with a look that could kill. I'm still shaking, gripping my knife even tighter, and Satari notices my focus on Felix's back; the exact spot I could get him with my knife right now.

"Saskia, calm down," she says, drawing herself up to her full height. I do nothing, just continue staring at his back. "Saskia," she says again, this time spinning me around to look at her. "You need to calm down. I know you're thinking about killing him; you have that look in your eyes. But if you do that, the Peacekeepers will kill you publicly, and you'll never see Clove again."

I snap out of it then, carefully placing the knife back in its sheath with shaking hands. I can't stop the shaking, but Satari grabs my hands tightly and squeezes them, holding them for a few moments before letting go slowly, my body gradually returning to normal again. We keep going, taking Satari's things back to the house, then saying goodbye to Gizella and Kalia, and deciding to meet up outside our house at five-thirty tonight to go to the square for the Tribute's Parade at six o'clock.

We get back at about four o'clock, and we decide to have a very early dinner and then get ready, so Satari goes to the kitchen to make us something. It doesn't take too long, and we're done by five o'clock, so we go to get ready now. I follow Nalee up the stairs to our room and Nalee decides on what to wear. She finds a pretty green skirt and a black blouse to wear, but I don't have any skirts, and I don't particularly like them either, so I search through the shelves Nalee set aside for me in her wardrobe for something to wear. I decide on a pair of denim shorts with pink and orange patterned pockets, a sleeveless black shirt with a white lion print on the front and a pair of white canvas shoes. I dress myself and zip up the back of Nalee's dress for her and then reach for a decorated cardboard box that I keep what little jewellery I own in. I rummage around until I find exactly what I'm looking for: a silver shuriken pendant on a black leather choker that Clove bought me a few weeks ago. I do up the clasp at the back of my neck and help Nalee do up her gold necklace, then we go to see if Satari's ready yet. She is, and she takes us down to the lounge room so she can tell her parents where we're going. They aren't going to come down though; they'll just watch everything from their own television. We walk outside and find Gizella and Kalia already outside the front gate waiting for us, so we meet them and the older girls start chatting away, but Nalee and I walk in silence, Nalee occasionally chiming into their conversation, but largely remaining silent. She walks with one arm around my shoulders, and she looks happy; so do all of them.

After all, it's not like they have anyone to worry about in there.


	26. Chapter 26

When we reach the square, we see people starting to mill about, but there aren't too many people there yet. We go as close to the screens as we're allowed, so we can get a front row view of Clove and Cato. A few minutes after we arrive, I feel a tap on my shoulder and spin around to see Leroy, Cato's older brother, standing behind me. We were quite close, and he used to come over with Cato to protect Clove and I if things got too dangerous at home. Leroy looks just like an older Cato and although isn't quite as big as him, I'd have to say he's got a bigger heart; after he came out of the Games, he sort of lost his killing instinct. Sure, he could still kill, but he just wasn't overly bloodthirsty like he was before he went in. He'd sometimes babysit me when there was no one at home, or if Clove had told me to run. He taught me heaps about plants and how to find water and making shelters and things like that. He's training to be a Peacekeeper, and is usually needed at events like this, but he isn't wearing his uniform tonight; he's wearing sand coloured trousers held up by a brown belt with a shiny silver buckle, a smart button-down long sleeve blue checked shirt underneath an open black vest, and shiny black shoes. He bends down to hug me and I hug him back, but recoil slightly as I feel a hard lump at his hip.

"I had to bring my gun, just in case," he explains.

"I see," I reply, smiling up at him.

He sighs. "I should be there," he says wistfully, gesturing to the screens.

"In the Capitol?" I ask him, still a little unsure of what he means.

"Yes, as a mentor. They decided against it though, since Cato's my brother," he shakes his head, clearly annoyed with their decision. "They didn't want him having an advantage having his brother there. Didn't want to give me another chance to say goodbye if something goes wrong in there."

"That's the thing people don't understand. They don't get that if someone in your family or one of your friends dies in there, you never get a chance to say goodbye. You can only watch the screens, and you never get a chance to tell them how much you love them just before they die."

He nods slowly. "The scary part is, in about two weeks, at least one of us is going to have to say goodbye to them."

"They each have their own reasons for coming back, too," I say quietly, not wanting to give away Cato's secret. "Cato wants to come back because it's like a family tradition for you, and Clove wants to come back to look after me."

"But both of them can't win," he says sadly.

"I know," I say, almost in tears, having the two people closest to me in a death match.

"Hey, chin up," he says, hugging me closer. "Who knows, maybe something will happen and they'll both come back." He doesn't sound particularly confident, and I'm pretty doubtful that they'll both come back too.

The anthem starts playing, and we all turn to watch the screens intently, listening first to Caesar Flickerman's incessant banter about how excited he and Claudius are, and then the doors open and we get the first sight of the District 1 tributes. They look extravagant in magenta outfits covered in feathers and jewels, with silver sprayed through their hair. Everyone in the square holds their breath as we anticipate our Tributes' outfits. Their chariot comes bursting through the doors, the jet black horses thundering down the road, and then we see them. Clothed in golden metal gladiator style outfits, they look fierce and confident, the make-up enhancing their features and the speed of the wind rushing past them blowing back Cato's hair, and Clove's has been left out and is flying out behind her. The entire square erupts in a triumphant roar, Leroy picking me up and hugging me before swinging me up onto his shoulders so I can see better. They each have one hand raised in the air, waving slightly to the crowd and are smirking, although nothing like District 1; their Tributes are showy, smiling and blowing kisses into the crowd. The other Districts are mediocre, and I'm not really watching them, until I hear a roar from the speakers and I look up confused as to what all the commotion is about. They should be up to District 12, and they're nothing special.

Except for this time.

They're clothed in shiny black jumpsuits with capes and headpieces, but that's not what's so special about them. The crazy thing is though, they're actually on fire. Not them specifically, but their costumes. They look incredible, and I know that the other tributes just can't compare with that. I can see Cato and Clove glancing up at the screens that line the street, and what they see clearly doesn't impress them. The chariots continue thundering through the Capitol until they arrive in front of President Snow's mansion. He makes his address, and then the chariots roll out to take away the Tributes. It's over that quickly, and now it's time to go home. Leroy gently lifts me off his shoulders and hugs me again, and then we're approached by two men, one holding a camera and the other holding a microphone. They have a Capitol look about them, and Leroy pushes me slightly behind him.

"Can we help you?" he asks them in his deep voice.

"Yes. My name is Rick, and this is Martin. We are here reporting on the reactions of the Tributes' families to the Tribute Parade and we heard that you two are related to some of the Tributes," the man with the microphone tells us. "They'll be broadcast in the Capitol and around the other Districts."

I step out from behind Leroy. "I see no problem with it," I tell both the Capitol man and Leroy.

"I guess it's fine by me," Leroy says, shrugging.

"Excellent! Martin, we're live," he says, clicking his fingers.

Martin flicks a switch on the camera and Rick walks over and stands next to Leroy.

"Now, young man," he says while clapping Leroy on the back. "What's your name son?"

"My name's Leroy, Sir," he replies, obviously trying to be polite.

"And what about you little lady?" he asks me, bending down to look at me.

"My name's Saskia," I say with my usual attitude.

"And how old are you Miss Saskia?"

"I'm ten years old."

He stands up straight again. "So what relation are you two to the Tributes in there?"

"I'm Cato's older brother," Leroy says confidently with a cocky grin. He knows exactly what the Capitol people like to hear.

"Ah, I thought I recognised that face from somewhere; you're a Victor!"

"Yes indeed Sir," he replies, shaking hands with him.

"Do you think your brother can continue your family's tradition?"

"I certainly hope so."

"And what about you?" Rick asks me, bending down again.

"I'm Clove's little sister," I say confidently.

"I thought you looked a little familiar. No Victors in your family?"

"Not yet Sir," I say, wanting him to know that just because she's small, Clove can win.

"You sound very confident," he remarks. "Do you think your sister can come home?"

I smirk at the camera, hoping Clove will get the chance to see this. "I know she can. Sure, Cato's a tough adversary, but Clove can win, and I know she'll come home." I pause for a moment, looking down at my shoes, just wanting to say something to her in the hope that she's watching. "I need her to come home," I say softly, looking into the camera.

"Well I'm sure you're going both to be very tense over the next couple of weeks," Rick says, "but I hope we'll get to talk to you again soon."

He shakes Leroy's hand and then mine before motioning for Martin to stop rolling. He flicks the switch on the camera again and they thank us before leaving, probably to go to the fancy house in the middle of town that we reserve for Capitol guests. Satari and Nalee find me then, so Leroy hugs me one last time and then I walk home with Satari and Nalee, since Gizella and Kalia have already gone home. Once we get home, Nalee and I set up my bed then put on our pyjamas. I pull on a pair of fleecy trackpants and a racer-back tank top. We go and say goodnight to her parents then go back to our room, and I slide into bed. Satari pokes her head around the door and sees that we're already in bed. She goes to Nalee first and says goodnight to her then comes over to me and says goodnight to me before giving me some words of advice.

"I know it's hard," she says softly enough that Nalee can't hear us, "but you just have to stay strong for the next couple of weeks, OK? Clove would hate it if she knew you were giving up without her here for you."

I don't say anything and she accepts that, and leaves the room, turning the light off as she goes. I roll over to face the wall, closing my eyes to sleep.

Dreaming of Clove coming home.


End file.
